The Trouble With Exchange Students
by Gogoi
Summary: The Marauders, exchange students, magic, romance, animagus, all the makings of a wonderful & proper fanfic! Wait, is she cheating? And doesn't this seem exactly some well known novels? Wait, what's wrong with her? Maybe this is a bit too predictable...
1. Animagi

Disclaimer: Annie and Lizz belong to themselves, Jamie is of my own making, and just about everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

In my lovely fan fiction, Remus remembers what he did as a werewolf (Which I think is true in the book, but there are some who believe otherwise). I also know the whole Lily-James story, but it's not going to happen.

**Prelude:**

Jamie, Lizz and Annie walked into the London train station in slight awe. None of them had ever even been to a train station. They used the airport at their old school, Saldrons Academy. But this year they had convinced, after months of begging and sad, puppy eyes, their parents that "We need to travel abroad and meet new people, find our place in this world!" a.k.a. Saldrons was boring as hell and they wanted to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in England.

"I hope it is worth all that effort we spent to get here" Lizz remarked.

"It will be, I mean come on, we're in England, remember? Anything has got to be more fun than Saldrons!" Jamie laughed.

**Chapter 1: Animagi**

It was the first night of their fifth year of Hogwarts, and Prongs, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Moony walked along the edge of the Forbidden Forest in their animal forms. Wormtail perched on James's antler, who was guiding Moony towards the Whomping Willow. Padfoot, on the other hand, with his big, black nose high in the air, obviously sensed something. Moony, in his werewolf form, used this momentary distraction to break away, heading towards the school entrance. James and Sirius broke into a run after him. Peter squeaked, and in surprise, fell off James and had only two legs before he hit the ground.

They came upon Remus, but strangely he was sitting staring at a wolf, who was staring at him in equal astonishment. The wolf had big blue eyes that had an unnerving look of human intelligence to them. A small, reddish falcon flew up and landed on the wolf's head, but the wolf didn't move a muscle. Prongs and Padfoot repositioned themselves on either side on of Moony, and a lion's, but softer and sharper, growl came stealing over the grounds coming from the direction of the greenhouses. The hawk took and flew off in its direction, and one of the wolf's ears swiveled around, but it continued to stare at Moony.

The insistent growl came again, coming closer to a roar this time, and the wolf finally ran off after the falcon. The guys sat there in silence until the sun came up a few minutes later.

"What the hell was that? Remus I thought you had gotten better! You could have hurt or bitten someone!" James yelled as soon as they were in their dorm, forgetting Remus had no control over his werewolf self. Remus was silent, as was Sirius, who was looking at Remus as well. After a few wearisome minutes, Sirius said.

"That was an Animagus."

"No way, how could you tell?" James blurted. He was still furious with Remus.

"I could smell it, and you know what else?" Sirius yelled, continuing without waiting for a response, "There were three of them."

At this time Peter burst into the dormitory and collapsed onto his bed. He was covered in leaves and dirt, they had forgotten about him. James, Sirius, and Remus walked out silently leaving Wormtail to his whistley snoring.

"Who could it have been?" Sirius said loudly in the common room. James silenced him and peered around the Gryffindor common room, luckily it was still early and there were only a few students wiping the sleep from their eyes in front of the fire. James whispered "tower" and all Marauders present went to their meeting place.

Sirius locked the door to the East Tower's top room, the Marauder's meeting place, while Remus sealed it with a silence spell. James conjured up three huge bean bags that they crashed into once they were done. Sirius finally asked the question that was buzzing through their minds.

"Who the hell were those Animagi!"

" We're going to have to find out who they are, and I think we can eliminate all guys younger than us, I mean come on it took us the middle of last year to finally master it." James was already pulling up a list of guys in his head and checking them off one by one. _Not Snape, Diggory, Bones…_

"And we practiced every free minute. I don't know anyone like that, do you?"

"They weren't guys" Remus spoke for the first time since the night before.

"No, I... What?"

"Those three were girls, I can… kinda tell. I have a good nose too you know."


	2. Exchange Students

Chapter 2: Exchange Students

"Excuse me students, May I please have your attention?" Dumbledore called just as the three Marauders walked into breakfast, all still deep in thought. They looked up to see three tall girls their age standing next to the headmaster. They looked different from the other girls, Remus noticed they had something of a tan, and they each had a big grin on their face, one could tell they were excellent friends. The Hall was silent.

"Excuse me for interrupting your breakfast, but I would like to introduce some new students to you. These girls are part of our new exchange student program and have traveled all the way from California in America to attend Hogwarts, and I am hoping you will give them your most sincere welcome. Jamie Bilden," Dumbledore pointed to a bubbly blonde with bright blue eyes and an easy, open smile, "will be one of our prefects this year while all three have been sorted into Gryffindor House." Cheers from Gryffindor, mostly boys, arose as the girls found a seat at the Gryffindor Table.

"You may now resume your meal" Dumbledore seated himself at the Head Table.

"Damn they're hot" Sirius remarked, "Did you see that one with the brown hair? I think maybe we should go greet our new fellow Gryffindors, don't you think so boys?" Sirius had a lecherous grin that James and Remus knew all too well.

"Hello ladies, we're the Marauders. I'm James Potter, this is Sirius Black and Remus Lupin," Gesturing to each of them.

"Oh yes, we've heard sooooo much about you!" a red-head, with navy blue eyes, and a sprinkle of freckles said excitedly.

"You have?" James said, clearly surprised. They sat down around the girls.

"No," said the blonde, Jamie, laughing. "You just acted like we should. Couldn't help but poke some fun at your self confidence, sorry nothing personal." At this the three lapsed into laughter, real laughter mind you not the silly twittering giggles more common to girls of a certain age. It ended though and Sirius slid next to the brunette who was 1 or 2 inches taller than her already tall friends, but still shorter than the present Marauders. She had spicy hazel eyes, shiny brown hair, and a tan complexion.

"So what are your lovely names?" Remus asked.

"I'm Annie Martin" said the red head.

"I'm Jamie Bilden, which you should know already."

"Yeah, I heard you're a prefect so am I" said Remus.

"Oh awesome, I'm so glad I met another prefect! It's a lot easier than asking around, you'd think that they'd choose someone who's been here for awhile as a prefect. You're going to have to help me find my way around here." Jamie flashed Remus a smile.

"Well they usually do, but I think your exchange sent all the candidates to America." Remus replied.

"And what's your name" asked Sirius giving the brunette an unnoticed once over.

"Elizabeth Lawrence, but you can call me Lizz, everyone does."

_Huh, James thought._ Even James couldn't believe Sirius had the girl liking him that much already, well a new one, not informed of his reputation. Okay that's not right, Sirius could pick up a girl in the middle of a Quidditch Match while the winning shot was being scored, if he wanted to. Remus, however, caught what was going on.

"You girls do know that here you call everyone by their _last _names until you are either good friends, dating, or have um… a _serious interest in them_? It's like flirting." Remus said.

Jamie and Annie had their hands over their mouths, trying very hard not to laugh, while peering over at Lizz who was incredibly embarrassed and turning red. She looked at Sirius who had a disgustingly pleased look on his face. Lizz got a bit angry at that and determined to wipe it off his face she said,

"Well I obviously didn't mean it like that at all."

"You sure?" remarked Sirius as he let a devilish smile, that was known for melting just about every girl's heart (or at least question her morals) within a 10ft. radius, spread across his face. Lizz's color rose more but she didn't falter

"Yah, duh, you can call me Lawrence then." Lizz said and turned away from a very shocked Sirius.

(Later after Herbology…)

"Isn't Hogwarts way better than Saldrons? I love the castle, it's just the kind of place I always wanted to live, and these cloaks, or are the capes?" Jamie swirled hers for the hundredth time, "are so much fun compared to the sailor outfits we had to wear at Saldrons. Not to mention some of the guys here are pretty darn hot." Jamie said gazing at the towering castle.

"Jamie!" Lizz and Annie scolded.

"What?" a smiling Jamie asked, she knew very well what.

"You have a boyfriend in California! A rather cute and very rich boyfriend may I remind you!" Lizz scolded.

"Awww Lizzy I know and I do like Ryan a lot and I'll stay faithful, but even you have to appreciate the hot English boys!"

"It's hard not to." Annie laughed.

They were having a good laugh as they walked back to the castle when they realized a group of girls was headed in their direction. All of them had obviously put a lot of thought into their immovable hair and the inch-thick cake of make-up plastered to their faces. Jamie really tried not to sneer, but god they had hoped to leave this kind back in California. One girl, obviously their leader, walked up ahead of her entourage.

"Hallo my name ees Vivian Lefleur," the girl said with a bad French accent. "I vanted to velcome yu to Hogwarts and vould yu like to, how yu say, "hang" vit us?"

"No thank you, I don't think we could fit in with your, how you say, "gang'. " Jamie said, smiled, and ran off with Annie and Lizz to Charms. They had to work hard to keep their faces straight at the sight of Vivian trying to figure out if she had been insulted or not.

"I don't think they like us Vivian" a small Hufflepuff named Judy said.

"Of course de did dahling, ze vere just shy." Vivian said, turning back to her entourage.

"I didn't think that much make-up could stay plastered to a person's face." Annie said under breath as the three passed through the busy halls. They chuckled, but they realized they had missed Charms somewhere. Then the seam of Jamie's shoulder bag popped and all her things were soon headed on a crash course for the floor.

"Strophicus!"

All of Jamie's things froze in midair a couple of inches from the floor. She looked up to see Remus, wand in hand, striding towards her. Part of her really was not trying to notice how beautiful his eyes were, the other was staring hoping she hadn't left a "feminine item" in the bag.

"Bilden, you okay?"

"Yah, thanx" Jamie was caught off guard by the use of her surname.

"You certainly were carrying a lot of books, how many classes do you take?" He began to pluck the books out of the air as he talked.

"Oh! These aren't for classes I'm reading them for fun! Good thing you came along that librarian looked like she would rip me apart if I hurt the books. God knows I do the same when someone does anything to mine, so I guess I shouldn't really judge." Jamie said, also grabbing her things and flashing Remus another smile as he helped her. Jamie noticed the large pile of books in his hands and bit her lip.

"I… Uh really like to read"

"More like an addiction." said Lizzy popping up beside Jamie and grabbed some of her stuff to help carry, as did Annie.

"Annie reads a lot too!"

"Yes, but not for six hours straight before I do my homework like you." Annie replied.

"Really?" said a grinning Remus. "Well if you're going to be carrying around all these books maybe I can help."

He pointed his wand at Jamie's bag and it immediately sowed itself back up and glowed with a blue light for a couple seconds. He placed the books he had collected in it and handed it to her.

"Now it won't break until you put two tons in it" he wore the tiniest of smiles.

"Cool, where did you pick up that spell?" An astonished and delighted Jamie examined her bag.

"After the sixth time my bag broke I figured there had to be a better solution. So I found the Two Ton Charm."

"Well thanks aga—Oh we forgot about Charms! Uh… Remus, I mean Lupin, would you mind showing us the way to Charms?"

"No problem, I was headed there myself. We'll meet up with James and Sirius."

Once they got to Charms they saw James and Sirius, who had of course realized they had Charms with the girls and had saved them seats. There was a smaller, pale guy beside them and his stare was a bit uncomfortable.

"Hello ladies, we want you to meet another and final Marauder: Peter Pettigrew." Sirius pointed at the pale kid.

"Hi" squeaked Pettigrew. Peter blushed though when Lizz plunked down next to him, Jamie pretended she hadn't noticed.

"Hi" said the girls cheerfully. They were glad to be sitting; their first day was already a little stressful. Professor Flitwick welcomed the class to the new year and launched into his lecture on charms for hair and make-up. He thought he was being kind to the new girls, but he failed to notice they didn't do their hair or make-up. Not that they were hippies or anything, they just never really thought about worrying about it.

"Hey thanks again Lupin." Jamie whispered as she hurriedly scribbled down a charm for hair color.

"Call me Remus"


	3. Changes

Chapter 3: Changes

When the Marauders entered the Gryffindor common room later that day they noticed there was a noticeable difference. They attributed it to the continuous bursts of laughter coming from the corner where the new girls sat. They couldn't hear exactly what they were saying though. Several guys were eyeing them in a wishful way, but the girls didn't seem to notice or care for that matter.

"So daaahlings what do you think of Hogwarts so far?" Jamie drawled. Lizz and Annie giggled,

"The boys, the food, uhh the boys, the grounds, hmm let me think about it, the BOYS!" Lizz said. They all laughed.

"The excellent intercultural experience we are fortunate enough to have" Annie said in a hoity- toity voice, her nose in the air. She couldn't hold it though and laughed as hard as Jamie and Lizz.

"Yah right Annie, I saw you looking at Potter. But you can't have him though he's mine!" Lizz gave Annie a devilish smirk.

"I was not!"

"Was to!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

Jamie shook her head at her friends, but laughed and joined Lizzy's side.

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"I wasn't and at least I didn't flirt with him!"

"Ok you know that was an accident! Besides, Black? Yuck, I mean he's pretty good looking, but he's a… a... lecher! It's like when that fifty year old guy hit on me in the dollar store."

"Yah, he gave you a pretty nasty once over." Jamie said.

"He did? I didn't even see! Ugh, I think I need a shower!" They collapsed into laughter again.

Sirius finally decided to take this moment to grace them with his presence. Remus and James watched with knowing and amused eyes.

"Should we stop him?" Remus looked at James

"Nah, I have a feeling this'll be better than any prank that we could play on him." They went and pretended to play a game of wizard's chess at a table nearby.

"Hello Lizz" Sirius drawled. Lizz turned in her seat to look up at him, and immediately stopped laughing. Jamie and Annie watched, but moved slightly back, just in case.

"I said to call me Lawrence, unless you're stupid enough to have forgotten?" she turned back, kinda shocked that had come out of her mouth. A snort came from a nearby table, but when Sirius turned he saw straight faces.

"No, I was just hoping we could be close enough for a first name basis?" He raised his eyebrows and slid onto the seat next to Lizz. Lizz was immediately disgusted by his lack of manners and over-inflated ego, and she immediately stood up.

"Come on guys there's no point trying to talk with guys like him around." Lizz grabbed her stuff, spun on her heel, and stalked off towards the dorm. Sirius jumped up and went after her.

"Awww, Lizz, babe, come on."

Lizz pointed her wand over her shoulder and a flash of angry red light slammed Sirius in the face. He collapsed onto the floor in a heap and was moaning. Jamie and Annie ran after Lizz already knowing what hex Sirius had earned and really didn't want to be around when Sirius got up.

"Oi, Padfoot you alright?" James said getting Sirius up from the floor.

"Uhhh…, what happened?" Sirius said fuzzily. He held his head to stop the throbbing. Then he saw James and Remus's sniggering.

"What!" yelled Sirius. James and Remus laughed along with rest of the common room as Sirius ran into the bathroom.

"NOOOOOOO!"

"Told you so" James said to Remus, laughing as he heard Sirius yelling curses.

"That was a bit harsh Lizz." Annie scolded despite the fact she was smiling. They climbed the spiral stairs to their room.

"He deserved it! All he was trying to do was get under my skin, which he did, and I felt his over-inflated head needed to be punctured!" Lizz argued. She smiled when she heard Sirius's yelling. "Serves him right." _Big-headed git thinking he was sooo irresistible he won't come anywhere near me, or anyone other girl for that matter, for a few weeks when the hex wears off._

"I still can't believe you did and said what you did, go Lizzy!" Jamie cheered.

They reached their room and dumped their books on their desks. Annie put a silence spell on the door and sat down on a big, cushy chair.

"Finally, we can relax." said Jamie with a sigh. She emptied her shoulder bag of the books and put them on her trunk next to the hundred others they had brought from home.

"First question, who were the four Animagi I saw last night? There was a dog, a stag, a wolf, and the rat I saw scurrying back to the castle" Annie asked.

"Yah, I mean it's illegal to be an Animagi under 18 in England, so what were those four doing running around? I thought we weren't going to have to worry about other Animagus like at Saldrons." Questioned Lizz as she crashed onto her four poster.

"One wasn't an Animagi" Jamie said as she sat down. She closed her eyes and was thinking about last night.

"Hmmm?" Annie sat up quickly. Jamie opened her eyes.

"They weren't all Animagi, the wolf… it kinda looked like me halfway through a change and last night was a full moon… any guesses?" Jamie said and rested her chin in her hand.

"A werewolf!" Lizz whispered, alarmed. "No way! They wouldn't allow a werewolf at this school!"

"Well they did, and though were going to have to be careful on the full moon; we don't have much to worry about. Werewolves are probably fine beyond that." Jamie reassured. _Doesn't make it much better! I'm not a person who keeps track of the moon!_ She thought.

"Okay, but we still need to find out who they are, at least so we can avoid them or whatever," Annie remarked, "And we have to remember that they will probably be trying to figure out who we are too. Especially since we know one of them is a werewolf."

"We also have to remember that though legal age for Animagi in America is 16 here it's 18, so they don't have problem with doing something illegal." Lizz jumped up from her four poster and walked over to her trunk. She pulled out some green and pink polka dot socks to put on.

"Ach, there's so much more to worry about around here!" Jamie said. Without really meaning to, she stared at some random point on the wall and her eyes glazed over a bit. They knew she had fallen deep into thought, again.

Annie picked up a very worn copy of Pride and Prejudice and opened to her favorite part. Lizz finished putting on her socks and glanced at her watch

"Jamie… Jamie"

"JAMIE!" they yelled together.

"Huh?... What?" Jamie woke from her meditative state.

"Don't you have a prefect meeting or something in like five minutes?" Jamie jumped up and looked at her watch, there was a little hand that kept time, with "almost late" printed in small letters on the face.

"Dang it! And I don't know where it is! I'll just have to ask around. Shoot!" Jamie grumbled as she grabbed her almost empty bag and headed towards the door.

"Annie, why don't you fly around and see if you can spot those Animagi and Lizzy prowl around the Forbidden Forest. Be careful they don't see or smell you!" Jamie broke the silence spell, opened the door, and disappeared from sight. She left her bemused friends behind shaking their heads.

"She always does this, you'd think she'd learn." Lizz picked up her Charms homework and got to work, leaving Annie to the debonair Mr. Darcy.

Jamie ran down the staircase, and shoved her hair out of her eyes and thought about pulling her hair back for the millionth time. Halfway down the staircase, the stairs suddenly went flat and turned into a slide. Jamie slammed on her butt and sped down to an even more surprised Remus. They ended up in a heap on the floor with a resounding THUMP. Remus caught a scent, kind of like tangerines, that seemed very familiar. Jamie was sprawled on top of him and moaning softly, but Remus didn't move, no idiot (guy) would move when in certain positions...

"You okay?" he managed to say.

"Yah, what the heck happened?" Jamie looked like she was blushing, but she always had red cheeks so it's hard to tell.

Remus turned a little red himself and ran a hand through his dark brown hair, unnoticed by Jamie, who had untangled herself and was brushing off her robes.

"I… Uh… well it's time for the prefect meeting and I remembered you didn't know your way around so I came to ask you if you wanted to come with me. But I was stupid enough to forget about the enchanted stairs that keep guys from going in the girls dormitories." Remus said quickly with a hung head. This wasn't going the way he had planned at all, and he was feeling pretty dumb.

"Sorry Bilden." He handed her her bag, which had landed a couple feet away.

"Call me Jamie, and it's cool. That was pretty fun anyway." Jamie laughed despite the bruise on her bum. Remus perked up at her smile. Jamie quieted as she put her bag over her shoulder again. She turned back to the now smiling Remus.

"Will you escort me then, good Sir, to the prefect meeting that we are sure to be late to?" Jamie frowned at her watch. It was 2 minutes till the meeting started, they would definitely be late.

"We won't be, I know a couple little shortcuts" Remus grinned as he took Jamie's arm and led her out of the common room.


	4. New Classes

_Italics thinking_

Chapter 4: New Classes and Splitting Up

"I still can't believe what that wench did to me!" Sirius grumbled at breakfast a week later. "My gorgeous face will never be the same again! And it took 5 tons of acne cream and hours of scrubbing to get all the pimples off last night and there already 2 new ones this morning!" Sirius gave grunt of disgust. The acne seemed like it would never end, he was going to have to search for a cure and fast. Even his appetite was suffering, instead of the usual two foot high pile of pancakes, he could barely stomach a one foot stack. Well, maybe one and a half.

James was sniggering and trying to eat with bad results. Remus had a book propped up against a milk jug and was trying to study, but he kept reading the same line over and over…

"Awww it'll wear of Paddy." James could barely look at Sirius without laughing. Four more zits had just appeared. Peter was silent and staring at Lizz who sat a couple seats down and across the table with Jamie and Annie. That look made Sirius really want to hex him.

There was a snort of laughter from the girls. James looked up to see Annie trying to control her laughter after she had dared a look at Sirius. James and Annie's eyes met and showed their shared mirth.

The girls got up and headed out of the Great Hall. Annie brushed past James and stuck a note in his bag while pointing out to Lizz the problem with her Charms homework.

**If he becomes unbearable the anti hex is:**

"**Proactiva"**

**But don't tell Lizz I told you!**

James smiled, "_not going to be using this anytime soon!"_

"What classes do you guys have next?" Jamie pulled out her schedule and skimmed the list, as did Lizz and Annie.

"Ancient Runes." Annie said

"Care and Keeping of Magical Creatures."

"And I have Astronomy, which looks pretty cool."

"This stinks! Why'd we decide to take different classes?" Lizz said grumpily.

"Because we thought it would be good to get away from each other and try different things," reminded Annie, "but you're right this stinks. 'sigh' We'd better get going, class starts in, like, five minutes." The girls waved a hesitant good-bye, believe it or not, they were usually very shy unless they were with people they knew and were a little nervous without each other.

"It had to be astronomy, couldn't be magical creatures on the grounds, nope, had to be a class that takes five trillion stairs to get to." Jamie grumbled as she climbed a seemingly endless staircase to get the South Tower. She walked up to a door that had a little plaque with "Astronomy" on it. She smoothed her hair and calmed her breathing. Jamie walked into a spacious room shaped like a theater, with the desks slowly getting higher around the large chalkboard so it was easy to see. At the chalkboard was a man, obviously the professor, writing down directions. Jamie was surprised to see she was first there, but maybe she had the wrong room or something. She whipped out her schedule again. _Nope this is the right class, wonder where everyone is?_

"Hello, I'm Professor Knightly. You may choose any seat you like, but I recommend one near the fire, it gets chilly in here." Jamie looked up at him. He was a tall middle-aged man with short black hair. It had streaks of gray in it, like his goatee. His smile was big and comforting and it reminded Jamie of her father's. He grinned and turned back to the immense chalkboard. Jamie felt her anxiety ebb a little and her smile returned. She chose a seat close to the fire, but closer to one of many immense windows. There was an excellent view of the grounds and Jamie could just see the many daydreams forming as she gazed outside. She looked back at the classroom, it was large, lofty, and round with large windows and a pointed roof, just the way she liked rooms. _Room to think_

"What is your name by the way?"

"Hmm, oh sorry it's Jamie Bilden."

"Hey aren't you one of the exchange students from, uhh… don't tell me.."

"California."

"Yes!" He said. Jamie nodded. "What's it like?"

"Oh, it has its pros and cons, like where I live and at Saldrons, my old school, the weather is always nice, usually between 60 and 80 degrees, but that gets really boring after sixteen years. Plus most people there are filthy rich and the egos to match!"

"That bad huh?"

"Well, not entirely. It's just kinda boring, nothing changes and everything is perfect and trimmed, including people, but there are so many lights it's a miracle if you see the stars! But then there are people like my friends Lizz and Annie who are all out of place in this fake fantasy world like me. We always wished to get away and have amazing adventures somewhere else like England. Too many books I guess."

"Well we're going to have to compensate for your lack of starlight ad adventure won't we!" He winked and Jamie smiled. Suddenly the door flew open and about fifteen students filed in. Jamie sat down and pulled out the letter she had started to Ryan and tried to finish it.

Remus was surprised to see the exchange student, Jamie Bilden, seated in his favored Astronomy spot. She had started something on a bit of parchment, but had been too distracted by the scene he knew lay outside the window. He also noticed a secret smile he was really starting to love, playing across her lips. And though he had no wish to disrupt this harmonious scene, she was sitting in his seat.

"Hello Jamie" He was still nervous about using her first name.

"Hey Remus, oh, you have Astronomy too? Awesome! It's great to have someone I know in this class. Could you help me sometimes because this is the first year I've taken it?"

"Sure, on one condition.. you give me my seat back."

"This is yours? Well.. I don't know, your help or this lovely seat, Hmmm" She had a playful grin and was jokingly weighing the invisible options in her hands. "Hmmm such a hard choice…" Remus couldn't help but smile and took the seat next to her.

"That's okay I can see better from here." He sank into the chair and caught the familiar, citrus smell again. _It's coming from Jamie! I wonder why it seems so familiar. Where have I smelled that before?_ _Where?_ She grinned as he sat down and glanced back out the window, it had begun to rain. Jamie loved the rain whether she was in it or not, but Lizzy…

Lizz clutched her cloak to her shivering frame as the wind cut through it and her like a knife. Stealing a glance at the dark clouds forming overhead, she picked up her pace. _Where is the class? They should be around the Uric the Oddball statue near the Quidditch field, but to my excellent luck, no one's there!_ She stopped and looked around…, there! She saw a group of students making their way down to a hut near the Forbidden Forest so she headed after them. They knocked on the massive door and were let in. Lizz did the same, but wasn't expecting an eight foot young man to answer the door. Her feet grew roots and with mouth hanging open and breath gone, was ushered inside by a hand as large as a dinner plate on her back.

"Well come in, come in. It's gittin' a bit nippy out here ain't it? Would you like some tea? 'Ope you like hazelnut and make yourself comfortable by the fire." Lizz regained senses and the capability to breathe as he talked.

"Um yes, thank you." She looked around the hut, everything seemed to be on a larger scale than normal, and for once Lizz felt rather small. Her eyes settled on the group that she had followed, none other than the Marauders minus 1 Remus and plus 1 Vivian. Vivian hung on Sirius like some berserk my-size Barbie necklace, however Sirius sat there hardly looking at Vivian, but giving Lizz another one of his rather annoying smirks. But his zitty face upset the effect and all she could do was hold back a laugh. So Lizz went to sit down right next to _the incredibly handsome_ James Potter.

"Hey guys" Lizz said as she plopped onto her cushion and completely ignored Sirius, turning her attention towards James.

"Hey" James said, but he pointed behind Lizz. She turned to see the tall man with her cup of tea and some biscuits, which he set on the table in front of them. Waves of warmth and relief washed over her as she sipped. It was a bit spicy and nutty and warmed her up down to her toes.

"Thanks it's really good!" The man beamed a huge smile that seemed to touch his ears. "Um.. I'm sorry but what's your name?" Lizz smiled and reached for a steaming biscuits, however James's signaling made her think otherwise

"It's Rubeus Hagrid and your welcome. If'n you're needin' anythin' let me know. Well probably be in here for awile." Lizz dropped her smile and spun to look out the window. Sheets of torrential rain pounded against it while wind whistled through the cracks. She sighed and turned back to the fire.

"Thank you again. My name is Elizabeth Lawrence."

"Nice ter meet you." She turned towards James and Peter, still refusing to make eye contact with Sirius. Peter was staring at the floorboards and Lizz felt bad for him, but he seemed to sense her stare and peeked up. Lizz gave him a little smile, but his eyes widened and returned to the floorboards

"So what class are you missing?" James moved to sit closer to her.

"Care and Keeping Of Magical Creatures. I wonder if I can make it." But glancing back at the window made her reconsider. "Guess not, never mind."

"Oh don't fret Lawrence we all have Magical Creatures too, and on days like this Professor Elton let's us go if he has nothing in particular planned." He flashed Lizz a reassuring smile. _Ooo I like him. He's nice, confident, and probably looks really good in black. _She flushed at her thoughts and turned and looked at Sirius. He raised his eyebrows in amusement, he seemed to know her thoughts. Vivian however didn't like not being the center of attention and kissed and Sirius. As they began snogging Lizz asked James,

"How long have they been going out" James peered over her shoulder at them.

"A couple hours"


	5. Cats and Dogs

**Sorry it took so long, I was gone over Spring Break and then Lizz and Annie failed to coordinate with Jamie. Hope U luv it as much as I do!**

Chapter 5: Cats and Dogs

The Marauders collapsed onto their beds in complete exhaustion. It had been their first Quidditch practice of the year and it had, of course, rained cats and dogs. Peter had been watching from the sidelines under an umbrella while Remus, Sirius, and James had seemingly practiced crashing into one another in the blinding rain. So obviously Peter was the only one whining about the wet and the cold. So much that James, in a retched mood, put a silencing spell on him which caused a momentary amusing show of Peter running around frantically trying to take the spell off until finally he ran down into the common room, like he would find any help there.

"Oy, I hurt in places I didn't know existed! I'm going to take a shower." Remus painfully got up off the bed and went into the bathroom. He took a long, hot shower and soon felt immensely better. As he dried off he thought about Quidditch practice.

flashback

Remus swung his broom around and hit the red quaffle away from the hoops.

"Nice one Remus" Sirius called

"Watch out!" A bludger clipped Sirius on the back of the head, making him slam forward to smash his nose on his broom handle.

"I'm okay!" _Sirius's head is too thick to get hurt by bludgers anyway, that's why he is one of the team's beaters._ Remus shook his head.

"You're supposed to hit them with the bat, not your head" James said as he swerved down next to a dazed, but still flying, Sirius.

"Huh?" They laughed as Sirius looked around confusedly.

CRRRAAAAACKK!

"Shit!"

"Remus, you okay?" James landed next to Remus, who was sprawled on the dirt beneath the hoops.

"Yah, but that lightning was a little too close for my comfort!" Remus looked up at the middle hoop he had been flying in front of seconds before. It glowed red and had little sparks of electricity running all over it. Patricia Wood, captain of the Gryffindor team, yelled above the storm,

"You okay Remus? Good. Everyone come on back on your brooms, practice isn't over for another hour!"

"Are you kidding Wood? We're going to be killed in this mess, I mean look at Sirius." Sirius had a happy- go –lucky dazed look and seemed to be having trouble standing upright.

"Okay, Okay, but I want everyone here early tomorrow morning!" groans Remus and James managed to get Sirius upright and began leading him toward to school.

"Hullo!" They turned around to see Jamie walking up.

"Um… hi" She was strolling through the downpour as if it were the sunniest of days, it was a little unnerving. She reached them and smiled.

"How was Quidditch practice?" Jamie said as she noticed their soaking Quidditch robes, and then Sirius. "And how's he, including the acne?" Sirius snapped back to reality.

"Fun!" Nope he was gone again.

"Actually it was pretty scary: I almost got hit by lightening and Sirius got clipped by a bludger." James said.

"Wow, nothing seriously damaged I hope?"

"Well Sirius's brain is damaged but we think he was born that way, so nothing out of the usual." Remus said. "Uh.. not to sound stupid, but what are you doing out here in the rain?"

"Well, I was inside working on my Potions homework when I saw it was beginning to rain. I thought I might as well come see some Quidditch." She smiled but stopped when she saw their "I'm questioning your sanity" look. "What?"

"No umbrella? No 'it's raining maybe this isn't the best time for a stroll' thoughts going through your head?" James said.

"Well, yeah James. I'm not wearing make-up so it won't run, I needed to shower anyway, and I love the rain more than most people and definitely more than Potions homework! Besides its just water, it's going to do more good than harm." Jamie put her hands on her hips as if waiting for another objection. Water ran down her face in rivulets, and dripped off her nose. She was definitely getting the shower she wanted, in her clothes. Remus started laughing at her, well not her exactly but the way she looked, defiant yet ridiculous. Jamie started laughing (at herself as well) and it spread to James despite his lack of confidence in Jamie's sanity.

"Sorry I missed practice, I used to play, but I wasn't very good and it's not very popular." That caught everyone's attention.

"Not Popular!" Sirius uttered as if it were taboo, "That's impossible! Quidditch is the best game on the face of the earth!"

"Whoa Sirius calm down, America is different okay? Breathe." Sirius glanced around, taking in where he was.

"How long have I been out?"

"About 15 minutes."

"Did I miss anything?"

"Not really. Jamie just told us Quidditch isn't popular."

"Not Popular!" Sirius uttered as if it were taboo, "That's impossible! Quidditch is the best game on the face of the earth!"

"Anyway, Annie still plays, but there aren't any spots on the Gryffindor team. She is an excellent Chaser though." Jamie said.

"She can take Patricia's spot." Sirius said.

"What's this about taking my spot eh?" Patricia Wood stomped up. "This is mutiny! Traitors!"

"Calm down Patricia, Calm down, we were just joking."

"Don't you tell me to calm down Sirius Black! I mean I may not be as pretty as the Ravenclaw captain, but..." Sirius got a dreamy look on his face.

"And not nearly as good a kisser either. She was amazi…" SMACK! Sirius Blacked out again. Patricia brandished her broom like a bat, wild- eyed and most likely PMS-ing. James and Remus took one look at her...

"Run!" Remus grabbed Jamie while James levitated Sirius beyond Patricia's lethal swings to trail after them as they zoomed across the grounds.

"You're dead Sirius Black, do you hear me? DEAD!" Patricia followed them in the front door and up and down several hallways.

"Can you still play, Bilden?" called James as he ran ahead of the others. "We might be needing a new beater."

"Where are we going?" Jamie gasped as Remus pulled her into a room.

"Shhh!" Patricia ran right up to the doorway, looked around, and continued down the hallway.

"How come she didn't see us?" Jamie asked as she looked down the now empty hallway. Remus smiled and led her back into the room.

"Jamie, welcome to a well guarded Marauder secret, welcome to the Room of Requirement." Remus said gallantly and pulled her back inside. Jamie turned and looked around the large room. There were 4 chairs around a table with hot chocolate and cookies. A bed with some medical supplies was nearby and there was a dressing screen in a corner with four sets of robes identical to the drenched and mud-splattered ones they were wearing (minus the mud). James dropped Sirius onto the bed. Remus laughed at her look of astonishment and pointed to the screen.

"Go ahead and change, promise we won't look." He said. Although he wore a mischievous smile that had Jamie looking over her shoulder just to be sure. When she stepped back out the guys had changed and were munching on cookies, so she sat down and grabbed some cocoa.

"You feeling better Sirius?"

"Yes, I do have a magnificent arse."

"Guess not. So tell me about the Room of Requirement."

"The name is kinda self explanatory but it basically tunes into and gives you whatever you require, like robes, cookies, invisible doorways, medi.." But James was interrupted.

"Pictures of a sleeping Snape!" Sirius blurted suddenly. Jamie cast an accusing glance at Remus and James, who were caught between shifting uncomfortably and laughing at the memory.

"Yes that too." James smiled at the memory of an excellent Marauder prank.

"Soooo, how did you guys discover this place?" Jamie bit into her cookie, warm and gooey, just like she loved em. _As close to cookie dough as you can get without getting Salmonella._ She thought.

"It was incredible! It was our second year and two in the morning and we were innocently running for our lives from Professor McGonagall." James began excitedly; he loved telling about their notorious exploits.

"Innocently?" Jamie scoffed. _These guys are anything but innocent._

"Anyway… we saw an open doorway and ran inside, praying she wouldn't find us. However, McGonagall seemed not to even notice the doorway and hurried on by, just like Patricia did a little while ago. We had stumbled on the Room of Requirement!" James finished triumphantly.

"So what's this about pictures of Snape?"

"Well, the reason McGonagall was chasing us was because we had tried to sneak into the Slytherin dorms and take embarrassing pictures of Snape sleeping, but she saw us first, thanks to someone checking himself out instead of standing guard." James looked pointedly at Sirius.

"I love my arse!"

"When we hid in here we found loads of pictures of Snape sleeping, the magical kind and everything. So we multiplied them to fall over dinner, it was great. Did you know he sleeps with a stuffed snake?" Jamie laughed and it infectiously spread till they had to wipe away tears.

"You'll have to give me a couple! Let's go back to the common room I have stuff to do before our prefect duty tonight, Remus." Jamie said as she stood up.

end flashback

Remus smiled as he thought of Jamie laughing. He got dressed and pulled out a new book his parents had sent him. But after not realizing the book was upside down for ten minutes, rereading the same sentence three times, and pretty much just staring absently, Remus dropped it in disgust.

"Damn I can't even read" He said quietly. James looked up, incredibly startled. _Remus not reading! It's the apocalypse! Run for your lives! _

He looked up again, Remus was staring at the floor as if was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen. Or maybe it something else…

"Thinking of a certain Jamie Bilden, my dearest Moony?" James said teasingly.

"Uh, yah." Remus gave a small laugh and ran his fingers through his hair, not surprised James had figured it out. "I just keep thinking about her laugh, and her eyes, and well her" He sighed.

"Moony my good man, you're hopeless. She's obviously into you too. I mean you're a pretty good- looking guy. Nothing compared to my sex-godliness of course, but still not too bad. Why don't you ask her out or something?" Sirius said.

"Yeah, there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up why don't you ask her out then? No problem." James looked at the downcast Remus.

"Like she would even go out with me! Besides do you remember what happened last time?" James winced, no one could forget that. Remus had gone out with a girl named Dana Spinett and though she was a little ditzy at times, they still had tons of fun. But Remus still had to sneak off every full moon, so she had followed him one night to see what he was up to every month. Obviously she found out. James was only glad he and Sirius were there in time, or there might have been another werewolf roaming the grounds, or worse, no more Dana Spinett.

Afterwards, even though she promised not to tell, she wouldn't come within twenty feet of Remus. It had almost killed him to see her look at him with horror instead the love that was there before. Remus's werewolf self also became violent and harder to control, and they learned that the werewolf's mood reflected Remus's. Finally Dana had moved to Beuxbattons and Remus had gotten over it, but he still hadn't asked anyone out since then. "I mean, she'll think the same thing Dana did once she finds out!" Remus glared at his friends. "I won't do that to her." He could just see her smile disappearing as she saw what he was.

"You know Remus, you won't even give yourself some hope! What if she's okay with it huh? What if she likes you for you, like we do! Give yourself a chance you dumbass!" James yelled, suddenly angry.

"Fine! I'll ask her out, okay? Will that make you happy?" Remus shouted back.

"No it'll make you happy." James smiled. "Duh"

Remus smiled too. _Who knows maybe she'll say yes?_

"While you puppies have been resolving your little fights, has anyone been worrying about this dumb hex that wench put on me? I mean Vivian suggested I wear makeup to get hid it! This is the last straw! I want this acne gone now! It's marring my godly features!" Sirius magicked up a mirror, a trick he learned in his first year, and began examining his still zitty features. Remus and James laughed at the child-like Sirius.

"Sorry paddy, I've looked everywhere and even asked Madame Pompfrey, but it looks like the girls invented this hex especially for big-headed gits like you." Remus picked up his book again

"I hope we find a cure soon Padfoot" James said sincerely. Sirius gave him a doubtful look. "Cuz it sure is embarrassing being seen with you." James laughed. Sirius jumped up.

"I'll kill you Prongs!" Sirius reached for his wand on his bed, but his wand flew over to Remus's waiting hand.

"I've told you to always keep your wand close Sirius." Remus admonished. Sirius growled and sat down on his bed again; his arms crossed and lower lip pushed out, like a pouting child.

"No fair."

"Life isn't fair."

"Hmph." Sirius pouted for a couple minutes more. "This is entirely, that wench, Lawrence's fault. What is her problem anyway? Most girls would have died if I gave them that kind of attention." Just at that moment Peter came in and heard what he said.

"Don't say that about Lizz." Sirius head snapped around and he reached over and grabbed James's wand. Peter however had turned bright red. "Ohh do you like her now, Wormy? You're a bigger idiot than I thought! Poor fool, all you'll get from her is acne." Sirius started out the door. "I'm going for a run." He stormed down the spiral staircase, through the common room, past the pink lady, down more stairs and hallways, out the front door, and up to the edge of the Forbidden Forest before he let himself think.

_Damn Lizz, She and Peter deserve each other; all they do is give others headaches._ Sirius stopped.

_With her spicy hazel eyes and that hair._ He gave a frustrated sigh and twirled James's wand between his fingers.

Time for a good run.

Sirius ran out to see the stars were out and sparkling. He took a big whiff of fresh air with his rapidly changing nose, and leaped on all fours towards the lake. He let all his thoughts wash away and only concentrated on running, running, running...

Suddenly a sultry scent crossed his big black nose. His Animagi gifts included scent and hearing. He turned suddenly and sniffed again. Running along the edge of the lake he came back over to the Whomping Willow. He slowly crept up; he could see the willows branches swinging every which way and wondered why. There!

A lion, _no mane, lioness_, was running beneath the Willow's branches. Sirius watched as a huge branch whipped down to hit her, but the lioness leaped away in time and ran around again. Again and again the lioness dodged the swinging branches. Sirius suddenly heard little growls and purrs coming from her, he realized she was laughing.

_She's playing a game! It's one of the Animagi! Well, duh Sirius, what would a lioness be doing on these grounds? Or in England for that matter!_ He snorted in spite of himself, and then realized the Willow had stopped moving. He looked up to see the lioness on the other side of the tree staring at him.

_Crap she saw me! I'm such an idiot_

Lizz sat looking at the unearthly big, black dog sitting over by the Forbidden Forest. She also realized he was one of those Animagi and her eyes got wider. She turned and ran back towards the school.

_Crap he saw me! I'm such an idiot!_

Over her shoulder she saw the dog chasing her, trying to catch up. She couldn't help but let out a lioness laugh,

_Keep trying doggy, you'll never keep up, I'm a lioness for crying out loud. Just try._

Lizz stretched her body to its full potential and sped across the grounds towards the greenhouses. Her Animagi gifts included speed and agility, he would never catch up. She leaped onto the roof of Greenhouse Four and leaped again onto a ledge of the castle. She tried not to laugh as she saw the dog run up, panting pink tongue hanging out and all. The only reason he had been able to follow her was because he had followed her scent. She stood perfectly still and made herself look like one of the many berserk gargoyles that adorned the school. Meanwhile, Sirius was cursing his black and white vision.

_Can't see anything in the dark and I couldn't even keep up! Man and I thought **I **was fast, Damn! Course_ (he smiled)_ she looked pretty sexy loping across the grounds like that._

The Sirius dog shook himself and ran back towards the school.

_HA, she'll have to come out and go inside sometime, I'll just go wait by the doors._

Lizz watched him leave and smiled to herself,

_He's probably going to go wait by the entrance for me to come out. Well he's going to have a long night, I don't envy him_.

She leaped up some more ledges, like a cat up a bookshelf, and landed next to an already open window. Lizz changed back to human here and crept through the window to take a nice, long, hot shower, while Sirius got a headache waiting for her to come out.


	6. The Trouble with Marauders

Chapter 6: The Trouble with Marauders

"No fair."

"Life isn't fair."

"Humph." Sirius pouted on his bed for a couple more minutes. "This is entirely that wench Lawrence's fault. What is her problem anyway? Most girls would have died if I gave them that kind of attention." Just at that moment Peter came in and heard what he said.

"Don't say that about Lizz." Sirius head snapped around in surprise and he reached over and grabbed James's wand. Peter however had turned bright red. "Ohh do you like her now, Wormy? You're a bigger idiot than I thought! Poor fool, all you'll get from her is acne!" Sirius left and slammed the door behind him.

Peter scrambled about the room muttering something like excuses and wondering if he had upset his role model, though they sounded more like whines and caused extensive relief when he left.

"Finally, he left." James sighed.

"What a whiner. Did you hear him muttering, Prongs? I think there was something about Sirius being a good role model," Remus replied.

"He needs therapy Mr. Moony."

"Or a good whap in the head."

"Or a good prank?"

"We're talking about Wormtail, not you, Prongs my boy."

"Humph, I think a good prank does everyone good."

"Depends on which side you're on, in our case we're always on the good side. Speaking of pranks is that one for Thursday all set up?"

"No worries mate. Here take the sheet, it's all written up." James handed Remus their prank sheet. At the time of prank these were immediately burned, but Remus, being organized teenager he was, demanded there be one for reference and prevent mess-ups that usually resulted in detentions. It was amazing the science they had gotten pranking down to.

"Can you believe Sirius? Do you think he likes Lawrence? He seemed pretty pissed off when Wormy defended her." Remus pondered

"Not, he's just upset because she didn't melt under his touch like any other Barbie around here."

"Still thinking of how Lily dumped you for Sirius? At least the boy had the decency to shove her off."

"Shut up, I don't even see her anymore." James crossed his arms in defiance.

"And I hope you aren't including Jamie, or even Annie Martin, in that statement." Remus said and put his hands on his hips, a well known Remus stance.

"Relax lover boy; I am not insulting your woman. Speaking of Bilden, don't you have prefect duty with her, like now?" James pointed out. Remus glanced at the clock and sped out the door at top speed.

"Talk about zero to sixty in under five seconds." James grabbed his can of Zeppo's broom polish and took care of his precious Nimbus 600.

"Hey Remus!" Jamie called from the other side of the common room. She beckoned him over to her table and continued to fold up the parchment that was in her hands. Remus made a move to sit next to her, but a sharp peck on the head stopped his efforts. He looked up to see a large hawk perched on the chair he wanted. Rubbing the now growing bump on his forehead, he moved quickly to other side of Jamie to sit in the hawk-empty seat next to her. The hawk gave him an equally incredulous glare.

"Oh stop it William. Remus is a friend." Jamie scolded the large bird of prey. She laughed though. "Sorry Remus, he's a little nasty to those he doesn't know."

"He's not yours is he? I thought you had an owl."

"I do, he's Ryan's. He brought me a letter"

"Who's Ryan? Your brother?"

"Didn't I tell you about Ryan? No? He's my boyfriend in California." She finished tying her letter to William's leg and carried him to the open window. Meanwhile, Remus was having trouble breathing. He felt like someone had punched him in the stomach.

Jamie opened the large window and let William fly. "Hurry William." She whispered after the bird with a smile. She also took the moment to touch her wand to her ears and nose, enhancing her Animagus gifts of hearing and scent for prefect duty. Lizzy had accidentally figured out they could change specific parts of their bodies to Animagus form after she had been stuck with a lioness tail for a week. Jamie fought the temptation to wear full wolf ears, as she preferred, but they were bound to gain some unwanted attention. Finally she took a few gulps of fresh air and turned around to find Remus very, very close. Enough so that she noticed a few gray hairs in his dark brown and that his eyes were an overcast grey. He seemed to regain his senses and backed up a bit.

"We have duty… now." He said, spun on a heel, and strode towards the portal. Jamie managed to grab her dark purple cloak (not uniform but like she cared) and call out to Annie,

"I'm going on duty see you later!" Annie waved from her spot at the fire and turned back to her writing. Jamie heard her sniff as she wrote the proposal between her two favorite characters. The blonde rolled her eyes, knowing it was the seventh different proposal that Annie had written/ cried over in the past two weeks.

"Remus! Remus wait!" Jamie breathed heavily as she caught up with Remus, who had rudely walked far ahead for over ten minutes, not waiting for her at all. "God Remus, what the hell! That was bloody rude, you could have waited!" Remus flinched when she yelled.

"Sorry Bilden, I just wanted to see if you have learned your way around the castle." Remus said, a seasoned liar.

"Bilden? Come on Remus I told you, you can call me Jamie, we're good friends right? Plus I hate this whole last name thing it gets me flipping' confused!"

"Yes… we're good friends, slip of the tongue I guess. I keep hearing James and Sirius refer to you guys that way, it just gets stuck in my head." He replied. Jamie took a second to close the silver, leaf-shaped clasp on her favored cloak. She swept her hand over the fabric and smiled. It had been a gift from Ryan and he knew her so well when it came to presents.

"Well you can tell them to call me Jamie as well, and extend the invitation to call Annie and Lizzy by their first names as well. We're all a little confused by the whole business and we're all good friends." She said and smiled.

"Well come on we have duty Jamie, where are the other prefects?" Remus glanced around as they hurried down the vast hallway. Jamie almost collided with the other prefects, the Slytherin prefects. Remus sneered as Severus Snape glanced down at Jamie in mild surprise.

"Hello, are you the other prefects on duty tonight?" said the green and silver clad girl standing beside Snape. Jamie smiled at her; she didn't seem to have grown the well known Slytherin sneer that was displayed horribly on Snape's surprisingly handsome face (considering what Jamie had heard about him, she honestly expected him to be disfigured). _Well, at least he might have been good-looking if he didn't look like he had shit under his nose._

"Yes we are, so I guess we'll take north and you take south? Meet back here in two hours?" Jamie replied. She and the Slytherin girl smiled at each other and dragged their glaring and silent men down their respective hallways.

They both lit their wands with a "Lumos". Remus looked down at Jamie in her clashing purple cloak, "Where'd you get a cloak like that?"

"Oh, Ryan gave it to me as a going-away present, plus he figured I'd be wearing it a lot because he thinks I'm such a wuss when it comes to being cold, and I would remember him all alone in California when I wore it. At least that's what he said when he gave it to me."

"You're not a wuss. Are you?"

"No, but I've been wearing it a lot anyway." Jamie laughed. "Because it reminds me of him and that he knows me well enough to buy a completely clashing purple cloak." She glanced over at Remus and was surprised to find him tense and she tried to make eye contact. He closed his eyes and looked up at her. Her blue eyes were sporting purple streaks, but they were worried and her lips formed a small comforting smile as he looked at her. She saw his brows were furrowed but beneath them his gray eyes swirled anxiously. She found herself thinking how much his eyes resembled clouds before a storm, as if a downpour might come any second.

"What's wrong Remus?" he loved the way his name sounded. "Siriusly, Remus tell me about it." She gave him a warm smile. Remus found himself smiling despite his bitter mood.

"Oh nothing, I just remembered I had a Quidditch practice tomorrow and I wanted to sleep in." Remus said lightly. He smiled and continued down the hallway. Jamie smiled despite herself, _Yeah right, _she thought. She hummed off-key a little bit then said,

"Whenever you want to tell me about it you'll find I'm a really good listener." He stopped dead. She grinned impishly and hummed and continued down the hallway. She stopped and chatted with a portrait of someone or another, then Remus smiled and caught up.

Remus talked and laughed easier with Jamie as they patrolled the dark halls. They found a lost first year Ravenclaw, stuck in a slow-step, but otherwise it was a pretty quiet night. Jamie was a bit of a night owl and seemed to gain more energy. Finally, Remus took a deep breath and said,

"So tell me about Ryan."

"What's there to tell? He's my boyfriend and lives in California."

"Come on, what's he like, how'd you meet, what was your first date, do you love him?"

"Nice, in a bookstore, his cousin's wedding, I believe so."

"Jamie Bilden. You better tell me more or I shall have to use all my Marauder powers of persuasion to force it out of you."

"Guy, Remus! I thought only girls cared about that sort of thing! Ryan is a nice guy, but he's also a gentleman, like he'll open doors for me and stuff. He also has this great Buddha laugh those little pot-bellied statues."

"He's fat?"

"No! He's pretty skinny actually and even I envy his waist sometimes. His eyes are dark, dark green, almost black, which contrasts in a funny way with his blonde hair."

"He looks weird."

"No! He's really hot if you don't mind me saying, his eyes just catch you off guard."

"So how did you meet?"

"Our fathers are old college buddies and we've been friends since childhood."

"I thought you said you met in a bookstore."

"Well we hadn't talked to each other in a couple years because he had moved when I was ten. I was at Saldrons, you know my old school, and it has this kitschy little bookstore. I was looking at their pitiful collection when I spotted him on the other side of the store scanning magazines. The store was really small so he was like ten feet away anyway, but I said 'Ryan' really loud and ducked behind a shelf. He turned around all confused and even asked a girl if she had said his name. He eventually turned back to the magazines and I went to pay for my books. As I was headed out the door he opened it for me but closed it before I had taken a step. He accused me of saying his name and then not even saying hello after doing so. I laughed and totally denied it. He said 'The red in your cheeks tells me otherwise Miss Bilden, and though you didn't recognize me at first, I recognized you.' I laughed so hard and so did he, with his Buddha laugh."

"So he invited you to his cousin's wedding."

"Yeah, I accepted partly because it's my rule that if a guy can get me to laugh I owe him at least one date."

"So... how many do you owe me by now… hmm." Remus made a show of counting up how many times he had made her laugh while she laughed and begged him to stop. "You sound experienced." He finally said.

"Actually Ryan was the first guy who ever showed any interest in me. I was super amazed to get a rich, hot guy like him all to myself."

"What!" Remus looked at her disbelievingly.

"Well, there are a lot prettier and skinnier girls in California Remus, especially at Saldrons. Plus more are willing to pop into bed at any guy's convenience.

"Sirius would be in heaven."

"I figured he seemed that type."

"Oh don't be too hard, he just gets girls easier than the rest of us. Plus he's an okay guy once you get to know him, bloody immature, but still one of my mates."

"Not from Lizz's side of the story. According to her, Sirius is the scum of the Earth, not to mention a total womanizer."

"Wow"

"Yeah, well that's Lizzy for ya. Hey hold on a sec." Jamie motioned for Remus to be quiet and cocked her head a bit as if listening to something (she was). She swiveled around a bit to pick up the best perception and then grabbed Remus's hand.

"I will show you something hilarious, but you have to follow me and be absolutely silent." Remus nodded and followed her down the dark hallway.


	7. Questions Of A Good And Bad Sort

**Chapter 7: Questions Of A Good And Bad Sort**

Remus tried to not pay to much attention to the fact that Jamie's hand was sitting warmly within his own as she led him down the dark hallways, but his treacherous eyes strayed down to her arrested hand. From there they traveled till he was gazing at her face. Her eyes sparkled with excitement and her cheeks were flushed. Blonde hair spilled haphazardly around her face and strayed into her eyes. Remus smiled as she tucked it behind her ears, only to have it spring out again as they continued. She was, of course, smiling.

Suddenly she stopped and extinguished her lighted wand. Remus rocked forward onto his tip-toes in an effort to stop and finally rocked back. Jamie slowly peered around a corner from which a small light was issuing. She smiled impishly back at his questioning look and motioned him to be silent and look for himself.

Remus gladly took the opportunity to press himself against her to look at the oh-so-interesting scene playing out before them.

"Please Kelli; you are smart enough to realize this is the right path for you. You are lovely and brave and pureblooded, how could you not wish to join the dark lord?" Snape said. He slowly took another step towards the other prefect, Kelli.

Kelli took another step backwards, not realizing he was backing her into a corner until she bumped into the walls behind her. Then she frantically looked around for an escape route. _Not like it would matter, bastard took my wand. 'I just want to see if a can guess what's in it' he says. Damn how can I be so stupid? How am I going to get out of this one, come on Kelli, Think!_

Kelli glanced up into Snape's dark eyes that held an evil promise, and then looked around her again. Not seeing any escapes, she finally stiffened her spine and took a deep breath.

"Snape, I will never join you or that freak you call a master." She snapped. Snape's face rapidly changed from amiable to seething rage as her words slammed into his ears. He took a step back and held the point of his wand to her throat. He slowly pushed the point to under chin.

"You don't have a choice Kelli," Snape said.

"Ruperdum" He whispered. Ropes shot out of his wand and wrapped around her, pinning her arms and gagging her. He slowly raised his wand and she began to levitate a few feet above the ground. She struggled against the ropes but was more afraid of the boy trying to be a man that was controlling them. The ropes tightened around her neck as Snape began pulling her after him. Her vision blurred and darkness overtook her.

Remus felt Jamie tense beneath him. "Catch her." She whispered. Before he could even think, she had jumped out from beneath him and yelled "Expelliarmus"

Snape's wand flew into her grasp. Remus managed to jump forward and catch Kelli before she hit the stone floor. Snape pushed back his greasy hair irritably and glared at the blonde that spun his wand between her fingers. They locked angry gazes.

Remus slowly placed the unconscious Kelli next to him as he watched them. "What's wrong Snivellus, not able to handle rejection?" Remus sneered. Snape's fists clenched as he watched Jamie place two wands deep in her robe pocket. She never took her eyes off him as she did this.

"Why you little bitch, who do you think you are? You'll pay dearly for this." Remus started forward, but Jamie placed a shaking hand on chest, stopping him behind her. She turned around and said in a voice working to conceal rage.

"He's not worth it, Remus, honestly." She smiled and turned back to see Snape giving her a condescending smile.

"You're Jamie Bilden aren't you? Filthy mudblood from what I hear." Jamie stiffened. She turned towards Remus, and seemed to be calm but he saw something very, very dangerous burning in her eyes. Her fist clenched and she spun around to face Snape, however, her fist came with her at a very fast rate. She felt a rather satisfying crunch as it slammed into his nose.

"I may be a mudblood, but it's better than be some ass-kissing Voldemort cronie, who's not worth the gum stuck to my shoe!" Jamie spat at him. She left him huddled on the ground, holding his broken nose, and walked out. Remus left Snape to crawl into some corner and lifted Kelli. He managed to get her to the hospital wing and run back to the Gryffindor common room to look for Jamie. He asked around for her but Annie and James agreed she had not been seen since she had left with him.

Remus finally ran out the large front doors onto the moonlit grounds. He didn't see her but his shoes sunk in mud that was the result of the rainy afternoon. He looked at the mud at his feet and finally noticed another, smaller pair of prints beside his own.

"Lumos"

He carefully followed the path she had left down to the lake, letting his eyes adjust to the soft light emanating from his wand.

Jamie was very close, he swore he sense her, or smell her orangey scent as he stopped beneath a large oak on the lakeshore.

"Jamie, come down." Remus turned to look up at the girl sitting on a large lower branch. She had a glazed over look in her eyes and was staring at the half moon, until he startled her with his request. "Jamie." Remus crossed his arms and gave her a stern look. She almost laughed, _He looks just like Dad, oh crap now I'm homesick, good going Jamie._

"No I'll stay up here thanx." She said and looked back the glittering lake. Remus frowned and in a wink had swung himself up and had situated himself in front of her. He looked into her shining blue eyes and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"Tell me about it." He said kindly.

"It's nothing really." Jamie shook her head and chuckled softly. "I don't even know why I'm upset, it's silly."

"It's not silly I don't want to see you upset. Please tell me about it… was it because he called you a mudblood? Because-"

"No! I mean I hate that. But I got a lot of that in California though so it usually doesn't bother me. Plus I honestly don't give a damn what some ass-kisser like him thinks of me." She laughed gently. "It just he said he… heard of me, like he had already decided what kind of person I was from rumors! I was already angry at what he was trying to do to that other prefect and it just fired my blood, I got so pissed and all I wanted to do was wipe that sick grin off his face!" Remus squeezed her shoulder and Jamie sighed. "So I clocked him, then I got upset cuz I had lost control and I let him know he got to me and I hate that!"

"Hey at least he got what he deserved, and if you hadn't done it, I would've. Plus now he knows to never bug you again."

"Still…" Jamie hugged her knees and sighed.

"Do you think his nose will stay hooked like that?" Remus said suddenly. Jamie looked at his deadpan face and burst out in laughter, she laughed so hard she had to hang onto the tree trunk for support. She managed to glance at Remus to see he was doing the same. It was a full five minutes before they could manage to draw breath enough to say anything.

"Maybe," Jamie gasped between breaths. Finally they stopped and gray eyes met blue.

"Thank you Remus." Remus noticed her eyes were happy and bright again before she scooted forward and hugged him. Remus froze as she wrapped her arms around him in a friendly hug. Thankfully, he had the presence of mind to hug her back before she broke away, She lept off the branch in a flash of purple cloth and spun around to look at him.

"Well come on, unless you'd rather sit on that branch all night?" She smiled impishly and walked out of sight. Remus swung down and smiled as he ran to catch up with her, only to have the crap scared out of him by Jamie jumping at him from behind tree.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

They walked through the front doors, Jamie turned suddenly and Remus stopped. Jamie cocked her head, listening…

"Colearux!" Purple and Pink light shot from her wand to hit someone hiding in a dark corner. However, the dark figure disappeared as she approached.

"Damn where'd he go?" Jamie looked around frantically.

"What spell did you get him with?" Remus came up behind her, but he knew the trapdoor in that corner would lead over to the kitchens, and was damn near impossible to see.

"Uhh… A hair coloring spell." Jamie smiled sheepishly and walked hurriedly towards the stairs. Remus cocked an eyebrow.

"A hair coloring spell?" he repeated. Jamie turned around.

"What! It was all I could think of! Plus" Jamie put her hands on her hips and stated proudly, "Now we'll be able to spot him!" Remus also put his hands on his hips and gave her an equally challenging stare.

"Sooo… what color is our creeper sporting Miss Bilden?"

"He now features a mix of purple and pink atop his guilty head!" The corners of Remus's mouth twitched in an effort not to smile. Jamie was already grinning broadly in triumph.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

They passed through the Gryffindor common room and saw James and Annie talking near the fire. James gave them a nod of acknowledgement before turning back to what Annie was saying.

"Well this is where you and I must part Jamie, but I have one thing to ask you."

"Yes?"

"How did you hear Snape's conversation and the guy hiding the corner, I know my hearing isn't that bad…?"

"Good hearing runs in my family, it kinda switches on and off. Sometimes I can hear extremely well, but most of the time it's regular." Jamie shrugged, as she proved she could lie just as well as he.

Remus scratched the back of his neck as he debated with himself to ask what he originally wished to.

"The sad thing is I thought Snape was trying to be romantic and I thought you might get a good laugh out of it." Jamie said.

"I was also wondering if-"

"Hey you said only one thing." Jamie interrupted. She smiled but waved him on with a "Sorry, please continue" after noticing the look on his face.

"If you would go to Hogsmeade with me." Remus said quickly. "Uh.. You know so I could show you around and stuff." He added.

"Sure sounds great."

"Okay I'll see you later Jamie." Remus headed off to his dormitory with a large grin rarely seen on his reserved face.

Jamie sat down it what she had deemed her favorite couch and though about Remus's request. Though it sounded and awful lot like a date, she shrugged it off. She and Annie were notorious for turning friendly gestures into romantic declarations and she was not going to that this time.

She turned herself fully human again with a pass of her wand over her enhanced ears and nose.

"Accio Jane Eyre" Her favorite book zoomed over the heads of the few remaining students in the common room. Jamie caught the much worn copy and opened it to one of her favorite passages she had a sudden itch to read.

p.s. sorry for the long wait!


	8. Coming Together

Hey I recommend rereading some of the previous chapters if you haven't in awhile because they have occurred within the same night as this chapter (in case you don't make that connection.)

**Chapter 8: Coming Together**

Her robe pooled around her in dark puddles. Her hair was pulled back into a tight knot, held firm by 2 pencils, Chinese-chopstick style. Her blue eyes shone as she wrote with her favorite pen and in a beat-up pink notebook she had brought from home. Her characters declared their hate for one another, while deeply wishing to say how they really felt. Her face glowed with the joy she received from writing. Her peace, however, was suddenly disturbed by a certain bored, and rather loud, Marauder.

"Hello Annie!" James Potter trumpeted… unfortunately right in her ear. Annie started with surprise and automatically snapped her notebook closed, something she had learned was wise to do when she had a little sister poking around.

"Annie?" Annie cocked a red eyebrow at James, who was at this time situating himself in a chair opposite her.

"Oh right, uh... Martin?" James shook his head negatively," Bloody Hell, could I just call you Annie? This tradition calling each other by their surnames is getting old and annoying. Besides we're friends right?" Annie chuckled lightly.

"Sure call me Annie, Annie the Avenger of Worlds!" James laughed as Annie pinked slightly. "Sorry it's an inside joke."

"And you may call me James, Pranker Extraordinaire!" He smiled beneficially. Annie laughed, a little uncomfortably at his open camaraderie. She then, feeling and hoping the conversation was over, reopened her notebook, to hopefully return to her peaceful writing state without further interruption. Nevertheless, her neck prickled as she felt his gaze remaining fixed upon her. She glanced up to find him doing exactly that as well as continuing to grin. She sighed inwardly and decidedly closed her notebook and laid it on the small table that separated them.

"Okay James, is there something you want? Because otherwise I'd like to get back to Elise and Charlie."

"Who…?" James looked down at the worn notebook. "Oh. Well the thing is, Jamie and Remus are on prefect duty, Peter is asleep, and Sirius and Lizz haven't been seen for almost an hour, which I'm wondering if they aren't in a broom closet somewhere and…"

"Excuse me!" Annie almost screeched, "Lizz and Sirius? You've got to be kidding me James. She hates his perverted guts, no matter how handsome he considers himself. Plus she isn't just some slut willing to jump into bed with any guy that gives her notice! Besides I know for a fact that she's taking a bath in our dorm. As for Sirius, he's probably snogging Vivian Le-whatever in your broom closet." The remaining students in the common room hurriedly turned back to their business. Annie clenched her fist in an effort to control her anger, but damned if she was going to let anybody talk about her friends like that.

"Sorry, I'm sorry! I just know Sirius and his reputation more than I know Lizz." James held up his hands in surrender. Annie sighed, releasing her anger.

"I'm sorry too; I just get so upset when anyone speaks badly about my friends, especially when they're not there."

"I can tell." James chuckled. Annie turned a slightly darker shade of pink and was suddenly rather interested in her chipped nail polish. _Need to redo my nails again, oops he's talking again._

"…as I was saying, I'm bored out of my mind and I hoped I might get some entertainment from a fellow Gryffindor, and here I find you all alone yourself. So let's talk," James paused enthusiastically, "I'll even let you pick the topic!" Here James beneficially grinned again, as if giving her the greatest gift she could ever hope to receive. Annie resisted the urge to snort at his ego.

Five minutes later James's grin faded.

10 minutes later Annie snorted.

15 minutes later James succumbed to insanity, while Annie laughed maliciously over his twitching body before turning into stone.

(Had you going didn't I)

In all actuality 30 seconds passed before James finally decided to end it before it got carried away.

"Um, any particular reason you're refusing to talk?" James said. Annie smiled and explained slowly, as if to an ignorant child,

"Because I'm not really very good at talking on command." _And because you need to learn not to expect everyone to simply do whatever you say. _Annie smiled over-sweetly, mostly to hide her amusement at her own joke so he wouldn't ask her to explain.

"But I'm sure if you really do wish to talk, we can, however I'm not just going to talk to show off" Annie said, "and I honestly have no idea what to talk about."

"How 'bout we just ask each other questions and go from there?"

"You first, Mr. Potter," Annie said, while imitating his own English accent.

"Hmm, okay…" James tapped his chin in thought, "What's your favorite animal?"

"Easy, a falcon," Annie said. James's mind zoomed into overdrive as he remembered the night they met up with the other Animagi. Particularly James remembered the falcon because of the way the wolf never flinched as the falcon landed gracefully on her head.

"Any particular reason?"

"Nope it's my turn. Okay, how do you get to Charms?"

"What?"

"How do you get to charms? We've gotten lost every single time! The only time we've made it without any problems was when Remus helped us on like the first day." Annie said and shook her head, "It's kinda depressing..."

"Charms isn't too hard to find, you just can't miss the left at Uric the Oddball and from there…"

"Eric the who?"

"He's this bald statue on the first floor, you can't miss him. Actually now that I think about it there are least four bald statues on the first floor." James stopped and thought for a second "You know I think I'll have to show you, how about I give you a tour of Hogwarts?"

"Okay but is it alright if Jamie and Lizz come along?"

"Absolutely I'll give you all a Marauder-worthy tour!" James excitedly rubbed his hands together and smiled at his immense genius.

"Okay it's your turn Potter" James's smile quirked at the continued look of his surname, and flashed a small frown before continuing.

"What's your family like, you know, siblings and parents?" A small pained expression crossed Annie's face for a millisecond before being pushed aside by an affectionate smile.

"I have a younger sister named Emily, she's great, but seems to have suddenly realized how incredibly awesome the guys seem to be in her year." Annie chuckled, "She's part of at least 3 bevies."

"Bevy?"

"Yah, certain guys have a group of girls who kinda worship him" Annie explained as seriously as she could, but she couldn't help a smile as she saw James's reaction, "it's like a club dedicated to his ultimate greatness." James struggled before bursting out laughing like a damn breaking and Annie quickly joined in. Their laughter brightened the common room in one of those mushy happy moments that always make you, the reader, feel better and even let a chuckle escape your lips as you continue reading.

"What about your parents?" James said after they has finally calmed down, though they both had a slight stomachache from the intensity of their laughter. The pained look surfaced again, before Annie struggled to cover it with an attempt of a smile.

"They died last year."

"Annie, I'm so sorry!... If you don't mind me asking, how did they die?"

"It's okay. They were Aurors and though Voldemort," Annie watched as James started, "Don't pay him that compliment James honestly. sigh they were Aurors and though Voldemort is huge here, he's still kinda underground in the U.S. My parents came here to England to check him out and figure how big a threat he is to the U.S. They gathered as much information as they could from the Ministry, but also tried to get some from the field themselves…"

Annie stopped and bit her lip. Her eyes shone as she remembered the day the government agent stood in their door, telling her and Em to start packing. They were going to stay with their godparents, permanently. How did it happen she had asked, knowing what godparents were for. The agent was a hardened military man, who simply said it was confidential before escorting them to their godparent's house. She and made sure to turn his hard-ass bright pink before he left, but it did little to assuage the hurt and pain that took months to shake off.

James watched her carefully, waiting for the right moment to speak again. She wasn't the first who had been terrorized by Voldemort, nor would she be the last. Hardly two weeks went by when a ministry rep didn't show up to share the news with a student and take them to collect their remaining possession, if there were any. Some came back, some didn't.

"I know how you feel, my parents are Aurors as well and I honestly dread the day the ministry will show up for me." Annie smiled slightly, letting him know his effort was appreciated. James continued on in a lighter vein of conversation and soon an hour had passed in which they had talked about books, chocolate, the glory of In-N-Out, fishing, Colin Firth, and how annoying first-years could be.

"I don't care if I once was one, they're still annoying!" Annie said adamantly. James laughed.

"Hey have you guys seen Jamie?" Remus said, in a voice tinged with worry, as he ran up.

"No we haven't seen her since she left with you, is something wrong?" Annie asked.

"No we just got separated." Remus waved good bye as he ran back out the portal. James shrugged his shoulders at Annie's puzzled and questioning look.

"So you hate yourself?" James said, returning to the conversation.

"As a first year? Pretty much."

"I doubt that."

A while later Jamie and Remus came back, but only James could see them so he nodded in acknowledgment before focusing on what Annie was saying again. Remus walked up to their dormitory and gave James a triumphant grin. James smiled then grinned as Lizz walked up humming quietly.

"Hey Annie, what's up?"

"Hey Lizz" They both replied. Lizz jumped as she realized James was in the chair she had been leaning over.

"Oh hey James" Lizz said, a little uneasy.

"How was your bath?" Annie said covertly.

"Very nice" Lizz said with a secret smile.

"I always enjoy a good bath," said James, "You girls should get Jamie to give you the prefect bathroom password, it's incredible."

"We will" said Lizz. She really liked James, but talking with guys was always difficult with her for some reason.

"Uh… did Jamie get back?" Lizz asked looking around.

"Yes," affirmed James "I don't know where she ended up though." James stood up "Well I'll leave you ladies to find your friend; girl's gossip has no appeal for me." He smiled at them and turned to leave, but winked at Lizz before sauntering off.

Lizz flushed beet red (at least she would've if she didn't have genetically olive/tan skin that never flushed or burned to Jamie and Annie's envy.)

"Did he just…?" Annie nodded,

"Yes Lily-Beth he was totally and completely hitting on and/or flirting with you" Annie crossed her arms "Lucky."

Lizz squealed in delight and surprise, luckily there didn't appear to be anyone in the common room.

"Where's Jamie? I have to tell her!"

"Dunno, bet she's reading in some corner."

"Jamie, Jamie! JAMIE!" Lizz called.

"Accio Jane Eyre" Annie flicked her wand towards the burgundy leather couch across from them.

There was a screech of irritation and a crash as something got tipped over. Jane Eyre plopped on the couch, followed by a flash of purple as Jamie cat-leaped into the empty couch, but her weight caused the couch to teeter dangerously and Annie and Lizz to brace for the following crash. Jamie peered over the tipped couch with wide eyes before laughing.

"Dude, that was freakin' awesome!"

"Come on!" Annie said, heading towards their dorm before anyone showed up. They crashed up the stairs, tripping and laughing until they pushed through the doorway. Jamie launched herself with a wild grin onto her bed while Annie sealed the door with a silence charm. Lizz squealed again as she remembered what she had to tell Jamie.

An hour later they had all described what they had done that night. Laughing at Lizz's chase, showing shocks of horror as Annie described the lack of In-N-Out in the UK, and applauding Jamie for clocking someone like Snape, though Jamie didn't mention the interlude with Remus. She didn't feel right about hiding something like that from her friends, but she told herself she was sparing herself the teasing she would receive. That didn't spare Lizz the teasing she received for the attentions of Mr. Potter, though Lizz was immensely happy that he had.

Sirius pulled off the invisibility cloak James had lent him earlier in the dark of his dorm and checked himself for any side effects of the spell Jamie had cast on him. He ran a hand through his hair as he pulled his pajamas on blindly in the darkness before climbing in bed.

Pleaz review!


	9. Not a Morning Person

**Chapter 9: Not a Morning Person**

The world staggered and stumbled out of line, then suddenly it snapped back into focus and found its feet.

Lizz managed to blink mutely as she watched Sirius approach the Gryffindor table the next morning and sit himself down next to Remus and Annie. Her eyes couldn't get bigger. Gently she elbowed James, who looked up with a questioning smile, and pointed quietly across the table at Sirius. James choked on his eggs, drawing everyone's attention from their food and eventually on Sirius's hair. Everyone as in every living and dead (ghosts) being currently in the Great Hall.

"Uh, I like what you did with your hair" Annie remarked politely, "very, um, different."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Sirius snapped. He was not a morning person. Especially when he had woken up early for Quidditch practice, only to learn that Patricia Wood had suddenly transferred to Beauxbaton's, and practice was cancelled (He was slightly glad a certain ex was gone, considering she had chased his unconscious floating body halfway across the castle with a broomstick in hand).

"Well!" he yelled when no one answered. There were a few sniggers from the Slytherin table, but everyone else was waiting to see the reaction. When you live in Hogwarts long enough you learn it's better to watch how something reacts before getting too close. Annie fumbled in her bag and eventually produced a compact that she passed silently to Sirius.

Sirius sighed and held the mirror up to his black hair, or… his purple, pink, and black hair!

Then the world snapped back into focus and Sirius calmly put down the compact and walked out of the Great Hall. From years of experience, Sirius knew the best thing to do was act cool and pretend that slap across the face didn't hurt quite so much. As the Hall erupted into laughter Vivian slipped out of the doors after Sirius. Lizz plugged her ears as Peter laughed shrilly on her left.

Sirius Orion Black was not a morning person. His hair was black again, though it had taken over an hour to find Professor Flitwick to have the charm removed.

At least Flitwick hadn't laughed, well not very hard anyway. The jeers had been the worst, if he heard "nice hair" ever again he would crack (though according to Remus and James, that had happened sometime around birth). Sirius leaned forward and watched Lawrence and James play wizard chess. Ever since Lizz had openly denied him, the acne faded two days ago, Sirius had started listening to what she said and watching what she did. Stopping and listening to her conversations had annoyed Lizz to no end and she couldn't imagine what compelled him to get anywhere near her since "The Acne Incident".

"Are you going to make a move Lizz? My knight just yawned." James said.

"I would, but it's very distracting with Black breathing down my neck!" Lizz snapped, Sirius sat back in his chair abruptly and crossed his arms. Lizz moved her castle forward a space and James moved his knight. Lizz's king tossed his crown down and her queen started crying.

"I win!" James punched the air triumphantly. James had somehow suckered the Marauders into giving the "Californians" a tour of Hogwarts. Sirius grumbled, they were just sitting around the common room, waiting for Jamie to wake up.

"When is she going to bloody wake up!" Sirius howled for the millionth time, no one looked up. "Damn it, I'll wake her up myself," Sirius said and began to fumble around in his robes, Remus only smiled,

"How, Sirius? Despite your claims to being a sex god, you still can't get into the girls dorms." Remus said, but Sirius smiled Marauderishly, and said,

"Don't have to."

James looked up and smiled too.

"Using the bucket?"

Sirius nodded and pulled out a thimble-sized bucket. He pulled out his wand as well and tapped it twice and it grew to a normal size. He tapped it three times and whispered "Jamie Bilden" and let go. The bucket floated carefully, so as not to spill the water that now filled it, and moved towards the girl's dormitories. Just as it edged out of sight, Annie asked,

"This is probably a stupid question, but what is that going to do?" She looked at the devilishly light in eyes of the Marauders as they watched the bucket go up the stairs. She and Lizz worriedly frowned and slowly they stood up.

"It's filled with ice water," James finally replied, "It'll find the victim, in this case Jamie, and douse her, then return the Pranker, Sirius, before she can do anything."

"What!" Lizz shrieked, "Accio! Accio! Dang it, it's not coming!"

"The bucket is imperious to all summoning charms, not to mention physical force, it's impossible to stop unless Sirius asks it to." Remus said, then frowned.

"Oh Shit!" Annie muttered, "Come on Lizz help me, we can use this couch." Together they overturned a couch, huddled behind it, and gestured for the guys to join them. Sirius and James laughed, thinking it was a dramatic joke. Like when people say something "blasphemous" and cover their heads, and everyone laughs when they ask if there's any lightning. Lizz and Annie remained.

A screech of pure, red-hot rage ripped through the common room. As if this weren't enough, Sirius's blood froze solid when he realized the bucket wasn't coming back. Instead there a wet blond head appeared at the bottom of the stairs, followed by Jamie, who screamed again in icy frustration and held a struggling bucket in her fist.

Slowly she stopped and looked the Marauders in the eye with snapping blue icicles. She smiled in a stretchy forced way and softly asked,

"Does this belong to anyone?" She held the squirming bucket up. Sirius edged forward,

"Now, why would you think that Jamie?" Innocence dripped from his words, but all their wands flew from their pockets and landed in front of her.

"Why? You dare ask? Why?" Jamie stepped forward, her voice ice, a maniac smile still plastered to her face. "You're asking why! I'll tell you why, you simpering bastard! Because some idiotic fool decided to wake me with a cold shower, on my one fucking day to sleep in! And incidentally," The Marauders stood in a group in front of her, wishing she would show anger, something besides the icy ripping voice, "this idiotic fool decided to write his name on the bottom of the bucket!" Jamie hurtled the bucket at Sirius with a screech, which knocked the wind out of him with and "oomph". "It says 'Property of Sirius Orion Black, the guy who just pranked you' you egotistical piece of shit!"

_Wingardium Leviosa!_

With a flick of her wand Jamie raised them into the air and spun them a couple times as she went over to the window and kicked it open with a socked foot. She could have easily opened it with her hand, but it made her feel better in a small way to kick it open. Peter was screaming how sick he was going to be as she flung them out the window towards the lake. She played with them with the giant squid and dunked them a few times, before sending them in the direction Lizz had said the Whomping Willow was, where she heard all of them screaming as she lazily kept them barely above the Willow's reach. She was going to bring them back, but spotted a group of Slytherins, and dropped them on top of the surprised group.

Jamie walked slowly back up the stairs and Lizz and Annie righted the couch and looked out the window to see the Slytherins surrounding four fifth years.

Jamie came into view, sipping reverently from a fizzing can of Diet Coke. Lizz rolled her eyes at this, soda was not for mornings. Jamie had on camo cargo pants with matching green robes, and stopped next to Annie and Lizz. She peered outside, squinting in the bright light, and turned around and picked up the wands on the floor. She handed them to Annie and said,

"Could you make sure they make it to the hospital or infirmary or whatever? Without being too beat up too, though I'm sure one of them will try to talk their way out of it. I'll meet you guys there in ten minutes." Annie nodded with a smile.

"Want to make sure your victims are okay?" Lizz said sarcastically. Jamie smiled.

"No, I want to make sure that girl Kelli is all right. Don't worry Lizz; James will look more dashing with a few scars." Lizz crossed her arms while Annie and Jamie laughed.

"See you there" Annie said as they walked out of the portrait.


	10. Who Are You?

**Just as a head's up, I'm editing and revising all previous chapters so try rereading them in a week or so. I know that it's been super long and honestly the last few chapters were like dogs chasing each others tails, but here it finally is! Oh, I recommend rereading the last four or five chapters just to make the connections and remember what happened.**

**This chapter is for Steph, who managed to remind me at least once a week that I needed to update.**

**Chapter 10: Who Are You?**

Annie laughed gently as the Slytherins tried to figure out who had cast the jinx. With James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter in the center of the circle, it could have easily been the bloke on the other side, couldn't have been the dead meat in the center, it had already been established that they didn't have their wands. This is what Lucius Malfoy thought as he collapsed into Belatrix in a sudden rash of giggles. Belatrix flushed red and countered with a _"Degiggilus_" that stopped Lucius's high pitched squeaking.

"Damn it Crabbe you're not supposed to jinx me, you're supposed to pummel them!" Lucius bellowed in rage. Annie laughed again, from her hidden spot in one of the alcoves that spotted the outside of the castle, as Lucius sent a nasty purple in Crabbe's direction, and easily led to mass mayhem in the group.

_"That was too freakin' easy"_ she thought. Annie managed to discreetly levitate the crouching Marauders out of the dog pile. James had a black eye and the rest had some form of nasty jinx on them. Remus couldn't walk very well, it seemed his legs were jinxed to be Jell-O, but that was better than Peter whose entire lower half had been replaced by tentacles.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Jamie deposited her empty can of Diet Coke in a handy bin in the infirmary, and slowed down to appreciate another carving on the ceiling. As she stared at it, it moved decisively and swirled into another pattern. She smiled, grin spreading from ear to ear, and appeared as such when she strolled in the doors to meet four glares. This made her smile wider, like a Cheshire cat.

Jamie walked over to Kelli, who was sleeping soundly. She looked at her neck and noticed the rope marks had faded to faint lines. Lizz silently came up behind Jamie on her right and reached behind her back to tap the opposite shoulder, Jamie glanced left but tried to pretend she hadn't looked the wrong way when she noticed Lizz. Lizz giggled,

"I got you that time," Lizz said, her favorite habit being to reach across and tap you on the far shoulder so you looked the wrong way. Yes it is annoying, and yes Jamie and Annie love her all the more for being such a dork.

"Nu-huh" Jamie retaliated.

"Yah-huh" Lizz said, then, "Who's she?" Lizz indicated Kelli.

"Remember I told you last night about clocking Snape because he was harassing a girl named Kelli? This is Kelli."

"Ohhhhhhh, right." Lizz nodded and made her way back over to the Marauders.

"Hi Jamie" Kelli said blurrily. Jamie looked back and watched as she sat up in bed.

"Ow" Kelli gingerly laid pack on the pillows. "What the heck happened?" she said bluntly. Jamie got the feeling she was always so excellently blunt.

"Well the most I can tell you is what happened when me and Remus showed up." Jamie said. "Snape had you cornered, then you denied him, then ropes came out of his wand, and lifted you up. I told Remus to catch you and I managed to get Snape's wand."

"I can remember that, except with you and Remus. I completely blacked out after Snape tied me up." Kelli touched her neck softly as if she could still feel the ropes tightening on her throat. "What did Snape do after that?"

"Well, he was upset, naturally; in fact I have to give him his wand back." Jamie said, pulling a long black wand out of her ropes.

"And then he just left?" Kelli said disbelievingly.

"Um, not exactly" Jamie scratched the back of her neck. She could be proud about things like this with her close friends, but was unnaturally shy around new friends, go figure. She ripped out a few neck hairs though as the doors suddenly banged open. Everyone jumped in surprise, and Madame Pompfrey dropped her ointment jar with a small crash.

Severus Snape strode into the room, black robes billowing. It would have been an impressive entrance if his nose wasn't the size of a golf ball and hadn't turned such a nasty color. Kelli grinned and turned to Jamie,

"So that's what happened!"

Snape was having trouble moving again after stopping abruptly. He had almost died this morning when he realized he looked like a morbid clown. Yet he was certainly dying now when he realized every single one of his most hated enemies was there to witness his embarrassment, practically the whole room except the brunette and pretty redhead and Madame Pompfrey, who had just swept past him after a glance to grab a heck of a lot more ointment. He sneered as he heard Kelli's comment and turned to meet Jamie's sharp blue stare.

"What has happened to our dearest friend, Remus?" James said, standing up with a smile.

"What has befallen thou, good sir?" Remus sneered.

"Was it a bar fight?" James asked.

"Couldn't be, not Snivellus!" Remus countered. Snape's lips creased into a thin line.

"A spell backfire?" James laughed. He looked at Remus who winked.

"No, no, Snivellus is _much_ to smart for that." Remus's eyes flicked to Jamie.

"What could it be Mr. Lupin?"

"I know Mr. Potter! The spite of a fair maid, with eyes blue and sparkling with her righteous anger!" Remus said, and they collapsed into laughter. Snape opened his mouth to finally respond, but Madame Pompfrey appeared suddenly and sprayed some purple smoke in the direction of his nose.

Annie hadn't heard anything except the teasing tones, so she stood up and scolded, "You two are acting like toddlers, you know that? I never put you two down as bullies, but I guess I was wrong." Annie smiled at Snape and stalked out of the infirmary. Snape smirked; he really should get nasty wounds more often if cute red heads were going to trash the Marauders over him. Madame finally finished on his nose and Snape was about to finally defend himself when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"I believe this is yours?" Jamie held out his wand. Snape grabbed it, but Jamie held fast to the other end and said, "Now you be good or I'll have to take this away from you again." Snape's eyes narrowed to slits as Jamie laughed good-naturedly and let go off his wand.

"You'll regret this you filth." Snape sneered. Jamie smiled Cheshire cat, ear to ear, and Snape backed up and left in a huff.

"OH thank you so much mademoiselle!" Sirius said to Madame Pompfrey as she finished up with his wounds. "I simply don't know how much trouble I'd be in if it weren't for your capable hands." Madame Pompfrey smiled and twittered and smoothed the bedcovers. Lizz rolled her eyes and asked James if he could hold still while she applied the rest of the ointment to his black eye. Jamie finished talking to Kelli and they all left for lunch, hoping to meet up with Annie so they could finally get a tour of the castle.

Annie in hallway not too far away had been caught by Snape (in a much better way than Kelli).

"Thanks for standing up for me back there." Snape said awkwardly. "It was just kind of surprising, I wouldn't think you or anyone else-"

"It wasn't a problem, I don't like teasing, It just must've been-" _my insane obsession with hott, slightly dark guys who have billowing black capes! _"my morals peeking through again. I don't even know what they said, I just recognized the voice." Annie said. _My god I don't even know your name!_

"Well, I was wondering if, uh, maybe you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend. Er, you know, like a date?" Snape asked.

"Um… sure!" Annie's mind reeled in excitement and astonishment, "I really should go. I need to meet up with my friends at lunch."

-----------------------------

After lunch the Marauders had done their best to show the Californians the castle as a fifth year without many nights of experience would. A few trade secrets were exchanged though and James gaped as he heard how Jamie could make lies with truth, even under truth spells. "It's all in what you say, let people fill in the blanks with the only assumptions they could come up with with the information you give them, make it sound like something completely different."

And after Jamie had nearly fainted in delight at all the views of hills and forests so green they almost turned blue and they had all gotten caught in a slow step, they ended up finally being shown the way to Charms. Judy, the Hufflepuff that followed Vivian around, ran past them carrying some robes.

"Uh, I just saw that right?" said Annie. Judy's hair was a myriad of pink and purple hues mixed in with her natural mousy brown. Sirius's eyes narrowed as he watched her go past.

"Yah it looked just like-" Peter began.

"Bloody Shut it." Sirius growled. Jamie looked around confused (she hadn't seen his hair this morning) especially at Sirius's look and how everyone was trying not to laugh. Finally she shot Annie a questioning look. Annie began to walk slower and pulled on the back of Lizz's shirt so she'd do the same. They all dropped back behind the Marauders until they were slightly out of earshot. Just in case, Annie put up a gossip shield, with a smile because all the boys would hear would be them shrieking about hot celebrities.

"What was that about? Sirius looked like he could kill!" Jamie said, turning to Annie.

"Well, this morning, before you woke up, Sirius came into breakfast with hair that looked just like Judy's."

"It was so funny, he was trying not to show it, but his face got all red, and the entire hall was staring." Lizz laughed, "Vivian snuck out after him, probably to ask how he could dare embarrass her like that."

"Wait, so only Sirius had hair like that, you haven't seen anyone else have you?" Jamie said urgently.

"No, just Sirius. Why?"

"Er… because I did it to him."

"What!" Lizz shrieked.

"Hey how'd they end up back there?" James said twisting around to look as he heard a shriek, something like "So hot!", it was hard to tell.

"Girls do that, it's like one look and they all fall back and start whispering about you." Sirius said.

"Well it sounds like they're talking about Colin Firth, and… Mr. Darcy?" Remus said, shrugging his shoulders. Sirius smiled and secretly bowed to the man, Firth was a bloody genius, especially when it came to the puppy dog look.

"So what was up with Judy? Is she copying you or what?" James said.

"I think it's Vivian, she probably has all her 'friends'" Sirius hyphenated with his fingers, "looking like that, just to cover up for this morning. Do you know she came out and yelled at me for embarrassing her like that? Bloody hell, who does she think she is!"

"Why are you seeing her anyway?" Remus said.

"Because she's hot and a good kisser, among other things."

"Like good in closets?"

"Hey, I resent that!"

"Why? It's true." Remus said, suddenly feeling _way_ too mature his age. He glanced back at the girls, okay let's be honest he looked back at Jamie, unfortunately it was just as she mentioned that there wasn't a more desirable man in the British Isles than Colin Firth. Remus sighed and turned back.

"Hey, did you guys ever consider that the Californians are our Animagi?" James said. "I mean right when three girls, in their fifth year, show up there are suddenly three Animagi on the grounds? It can't be a coincidence!"

"Only one way to find out!" Sirius said cheerfully.

"If you're thinking of a certain potion, you can certainly forget it." Remus interceded, "A certain someone used the rest of it to be a certain teacher so he could tell a certain caretaker that he didn't have detention after all." Sirius smiled.

"Well it worked didn't it?"

"That's how you got out of it? I can't believe you didn't get me out of detention too!" Peter trumpeted.

"So in a month we can try the potion after I make up a fresh patch." Remus said wearily.

"Hmm" James stroked his chin, "now which girl should we use?" he looked back. "I bet you could get a few long blonde hairs pretty easily. Eh, Mr. Moony?" Remus scowled.

"Sorry, can't help you there, unless you're talking about picking Vivian's off of Sirius's robes. Don't give me that look, she's got a bloody boyfriend all right?"

"Already?"

"No, someone from California, who's good looking, rich, _and_ a gentleman."

"Don't tell me you got her talking about him!" Sirius groaned. "Worst idea is to get her thinking about your competition!" Remus stopped.

"Maybe I missed something. Competition? She's taken, you know "I'm spoken for" and all that?"

"So what? He's in California, she's not, you're not. Long distance relationships never work, and pretty soon she'll be wanting someone warm to snuggle with."

"Oh stop. I'm not you Sirius. I won't purposely trick her!" Remus snapped.

"I think you're looking at this the wrong way, Remus my friend. You guys are perfect, she's an old-fashioned romantic and obsessive about books, so are you. I really think you need to give yourself a chance and stop being the grandpa of the group. Be her friend, drop hints, maybe do the secret admirer thing, and in no time she'll forget what-his-name in America." James replied.

"I think you should do it." Peter said.

"_Maybe I should, I mean, it's not much harm right? She seems really funny and nice and I _do_ need to stop being a grandpa!" Remus thought._

"I did ask her to Hogsmeade… as a friend showing her around." Remus said reluctantly.

"Perfect! And, seriously, could you snag some of her hair if you get a chance?" James asked.

Meanwhile, Jamie had spilled all about crying in the tree and pegging some guy in the dark with a color charm. Then they all had realized that Sirius was the Animagus because Lizz remembered the dog going back to the entrance to stake out for her. Plus, neither Annie nor Jamie had seen him last night so it must've been. It really was a good conversation (sorry you missed it, you should've been listening to them instead of Remus's angst) and full of funny inside jokes and sarcastic comments and way too much congratulating themselves on being so smart, but everyone's entitled to a bit of that every once in awhile.

"You know what we should do?" Annie said speculatively.

"What?"

"Play Truth or Dare."


	11. Nightmare

**Chapter 11: Night Terror**

Blearily Jamie opened her eyes and rubbed the sleep out with the palm of her hand. Slowly she picked herself up, looked around and gasped at the barren landscape surrounding her. Dark rocks cleaved into a red sky like daggers. She reeled as she realized there wasn't a sun or even a moon brightening the heavens, just the same pale red sky blending into dusty brown earth.

Terror clouded her rapid mind and she ran a distance and stopped. Frantically she looked around for some sign of life; a weed would've been enough. Falling to her knees, she dug into the harsh dirt, ignoring the sharp rocks that tore at her hands. Tears streamed down her face as she realized with horror there wasn't even a patch of damp earth, just pale choking dust. She stopped and put her head in her hands. Anguish shook her and released a scream that echoed in the lifeless landscape.

"No, No, No… Please anything but this!" It was all she could do to not curl up and die.

"No" she whispered, tears still running freely. She looked up and scanned the horizon for anything, anything but this. She gasped as she saw something. Something that spoke of life.

She gulped down stale, dry air and began running. The gritty air dried her tears as she ran desperately towards her last shred of hope. But despite her burning lungs and aching legs, it seemed to move farther away as she tried to get closer.

"NO!" she screamed, but it was swallowed by the dead winds.

Jamie jerked awake, sheer unnamed terror still pumping through every fiber of her body. She breathed hard and clutched her chest. She was in bed and covered in a film of sweat. She looked over at the clock and realized 1) it was five in the morning and 2) she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep.

"Ugh" Jamie, with barely open eyes, clumsily made her way to the shower. As relieving hot water poured over her, she thought, _"If there are two things I hate most in this world: it's waking up early and not being able to remember my dreams!" _


	12. Masquerade

**Chapter 12: Masquerade**

The sunrise shone through the many castle windows, some of which didn't face the sun, and cast an early morning light onto the halls of Hogwarts. Jamie walked over to the House points calculators and thought happily to herself that she was responsible for at least five of the little scarlet balls that were in Gryffindor's. She made her way over to the notice board that usually was taken up by Filch's banned list.

But today, in the upper right hand corner, was a large note that after reading it, made Jamie wish she actually could bounce of the walls in excitement. She ripped it off the board and tore into the hall with a, "Annieeeee, Liiiiizzzzzyyyyyyy!". Annie, Lizz, and the Marauders looked up in surprise. Jamie bolted down the table to them, but instead of skidding to a halt, she kept on skidding and cursed as she landed sideways. Recovering, she slapped the notice on the table in front of her friends, "Read, Read, Read!" She shrieked and started spinning and clapping excitedly. Her grin wouldn't leave, and Remus reached up and pulled her down onto the bench in hopes of stopping the display, however, she couldn't stop wriggling and smiling as Annie read aloud:

**For this year's Halloween party, instead of the traditional school-wide feast, we will be conducting a masquerade ball. In addition, it will be a Muggle masquerade in the traditional style of the Renaissance period. Professor Binns, in accordance with several other teachers, will be awarding points during the ball according to authenticity of dance and dress. **

**By the end of three weeks, sketches of your costume must be submitted to your House Head for approval. If approved, you shall receive a black cloak and a list of rules and instructions as to how the ball will proceed, good luck!**

**Professor Albus Dumbledore,**

**Headmaster**

"Can you believe it? How awesome is that? I still can't believe it, this will be so incredible, and I've already got ideas for costumes!" Jamie shrieked. Annie nodded.

"What's so great about a ball? It'll be boring." Peter said. Jamie turned on him.

"Do you really want to go out the window again Pettigrew?" Jamie asked sweetly. Peter shook his head. "Smart boy."

"This is amazing; I can't imagine where we'll get the costumes though. Plus we'll have to order-" Annie stopped as someone walked up behind Jamie.

"Miss Bilden" Jamie flinched, "I expected more from a prefect, you have been incredibly disruptive, torn down a school notice, and what do I hear about flinging these boys out the window!" McGonagall said sternly. Jamie stood up and faced her, and smiled.

"I'm sorry Professor, I was overly excited about a school function, and though I may have thought it would be encouraged, I am sorry and would be happy to repost the notice immediately." Jamie's smile stretched, "As to flinging the Marauders out the window, they deserved it as they saw fit to wake me up yesterday with a bucket of cold water, besides I levitated them onto the grass without a scratch." Jamie spoke softly and calmly.

"Well, just remember that there isn't to be any magic used against other students while you are residing at Hogwarts, even if they do deserve it. And please try to contain your excitement!" McGonagall went back up to the teachers table. Jamie sat down again and grabbed some bacon, wrapped it in a napkin, and shoved it in her bag.

"I seem to remember being levitated into a group of Slytherins without our wands, that's hardly without a scratch." Remus said.

"For previously stated reasons, besides you didn't have a scratch when I dropped you on the grass."

"Wow, you sounded like Remus." James commented. Jamie smiled.

"That's why I never gets detention and you do James." Remus said.

"Hey look, I'll see you guys later, my head is going to explode if I don't get these ideas on paper! I'll see you in Astronomy Remus" Jamie picked up the ball notice, "thank you for putting this up for me Peter!" and dropped it in his lap. Jamie hoisted her bag over her shoulder, grabbed a piece of toast, and ran out of the hall.

James turned to Annie, looking like he had just remembered something. "So remind me why you stood up for Snivellus?" He asked nastily.

"Is Snivellus really his name?"

"No, and don't change the subject, Why?"

"Because you were being bullies, and I honestly don't think you should tease someone just because they got hurt!" Annie snapped.

"But he deserves it! The stinking bast-"

"Potter, stop it!" Annie picked up her bag, "If it pleases your majesty, I'm going to class early. And for you information, he asked me out this weekend and I said yes!" Annie stalked off, every muscle rippling with concealed anger.

"Oh great, " Lizz sighed, "Now I'll go to Hogsmeade by myself." James's disgusted face shifted into an easy smile.

"But of course you can come with us Lawrence; we always go together so we can pool our money for everything in Zonko's." They laughed and Lizz smiled, Peter smiled, Sirius frowned.

"Thanks guys."

Remus plunked down next to Jamie, and leaned over her to look at her drawings. On reflex she pulled them closer and hid them from view. Remus frowned and tried to see the sketches, but Jamie managed to hide them from his prying eyes.

"So how are the costumes coming along?" he finally asked.

Jamie took a few long seconds to respond. "_sketch_… They're, _sketch, sketch_… doing _sketch_… great! _Sketch, sketch, sketch_… In fact, _sketch, sketch, sketch, sketch_… I'm… done!" Jamie finished a detail with a self-satisfied flourish, but instead of showing them to Remus like he wanted, she shoved them in her bag. "I'm sorry I treated Peter like that this morning, he has gotten down to my last nerve and sorry to be honest, but I really don't like him to begin with." Jamie explained. After a second she turned to Remus, who was staring pointedly at her bag, and pointed to the front of the class.

"If you're quite done Mr. Lupin, could we begin class?" Mr. Knightly asked sarcastically. Remus turned a touch red and nodded. "Thank you." Jamie held down her laughter with a hand across her mouth.

In history of magic later on, Annie and Jamie passed notes.

Annie: So if we've agreed that the Marauders are the Animagi, who's the werewolf?

**Jamie: I dunno, obviously not Sirius**

Maybe it's Lupin, he's kind of a pale and shy. I bet you anything he's claustrophobic.

(Jamie paused)

**No, it's Pettigrew, I mean why else would he be with the obviously most popular guys at this school. Talk about pale and shy. Do you know who he reminds me of?**

Who?

**Collins**

Ew, you're right. I dunno, I was kinda hoping someone better would be a werewolf, you know more romantic.

**You're thinking of vampires from muggle books aren't you? But it makes sense, I mean really, it's like a Collins hanging around with a Darcy, Bingley, and a… well whatever character from a book might you describe Remus as, I bet you anything they found out and thought it was cool or something. Kinda "took him under their wing" and all that jazz.**

Okay, okay you win Miss Sherlock

**Thank you, Thank you, 'takes a bow'**

**I'm starting to notice three things right about now,**

**1. Half the girls in this class have pink hair (did I start a trend?)**

**2. Have you noticed that since we've become friends with the Marauders, we're… I dunno…POPULAR! I swear, it's like I mention one thing I book I like and within a week everyone's reading it and they're completely out at the library. Personally it's driving me sane! Tearing away at my treasured insanity!**

**3. I think Pettigrew likes Lizzy, He keeps staring at her, but I think she's totally oblivious.**

1. I think you did start a trend. Next time you do that, could you choose more mellow colors? My eyes are starting to hurt.

2. I know what you mean, and I think it's slightly proven by the fact that everyone's turning their hair twenty shades of pink. Don't worry about your insanity dear, you have enough to go around.

3. EWWWWWWWWWWWW! Yet, so like the book, where Collins likes Elizabeth! That's weird. She'll never date him though, she's too preoccupied with Potter.

**I know, come to England, and have your favorite Austen book played out in your lives! Amazing!**

You're sure it's not Remus?

**YES**

(PAPER INCINERATED AS TEACHER STARTED TO FLOAT BY)

"Oh Jamie these are amazing! I think I should be the fiery one though, I'm just so amazingly hott and all that." Annie said archly. She took another look at the sketches Jamie had showed them in the privacy of their dorm.

"Oh, but red really isn't your color you know." Jamie laughed. "I'm glad you guys like them, don't feel like we have to use them, it's just an idea. We don't even have to go together."

"We have to use them, they're perfect!" Lizz reassured. "How are we going to get these done though, I mean we don't have any way of going to the local magical craft store."

"I was figuring we could send them to Ryan, and ask him to distribute them to our parents, or at least give us some connections that we could order the dresses from. Though the hair bit is going to be a bit tricky."

"I doubt that they're won't be a great technique that's evolved from the current hair color trend by Halloween, though you're blue swirls might cause a problem. So we're agreed?" everyone nodded, "Good. So this bit, is a sort of brown green?" Annie said.

"No, it's more of a dark, leaf green, like on an oak."

Archly: with playful slyness or roguishness (don't you just love this word?)

**HA HA HA I'm not going to even give you any more hints! You'll have to guess what they're going to be for the ball! I will mail sketches of the dresses to the closest guesses. Oh and there are a few of you that already know the answer, so don't even try to guess!**


	13. Misconceptions

**Chapter 13: Misconceptions**

"So what else is there to see?"

"The world; that should satisfy you for the rest of the day."

"If we start in Venice, we certainly could at least get through Europe by four." Jamie replied, laughing.

"Certainly, but if you were referring to Hogsmeade, there's only Rosmerta's left I believe."

"Oh, and the Shrieking Shack, I've heard every horrible thing about the place, we have to see it."

_Not nearly as horrible as what I could tell you_, Remus thought poisonously. "Uh," he cleared his throat, "Let's get a butterbeer first, my arms are definitely going numb."

Jamie smiled, but avoided looking him in the eye. The day had been great, really, but she thought it would've been more of a group thing, not one-on-one like this. Remus had showed her everything, including the delight of Fizzing Whizbees, and eventually they had ended up in a small book store off Main Street. There they had spent several hours browsing, swapping titles, and discussing the surprisingly many books they had both read. Jamie was happy to find someone, besides Annie, who had a strange sympathy towards every villainous character, that could argue their point as vehemently as she could. In the end, they had left loaded with parcels. Yet, the nagging feeling that this was a date was still popping into Jamie's head every ten minutes, every time she looked him in the eye. The fact that he was carrying some of her bags didn't help diminish her suspicions either.

Jamie, as mentioned before, had a bad habit of making more out a situation than was there. Eventually she had learned to rein it in and simply dismiss half of her theories. But there was something to be said about a, let's admit it, handsome guy showing her around and being the perfect gentlemen. Jamie was beginning to wish she had dated more so she could define on experience.

"I don't think I've ever had butterbeer." She replied. She shifted the bags for a second and pulled her robes tighter around her.

"You don't know what you're missing, especially on a freezing day like this." Remus shifted the bags he carried too, "Turn left, it's that door straight ahead." With a grunt, Jamie managed to push open the wooden front door. Remus guided the way to one of the booths and carefully put down his packages, as she did the same. If there was one thing they would always agree on, it was a reverence of books. "Be right back." Remus turned towards the bar to get their drinks.

Jamie propped her chin in her hand and looked around. It was the most interesting place, like out of a stinking book it was. It appeared dimly lit and the old leather booth squeaked beneath her, but there was a general tidiness and light that made the place glow cheerfully. The tables were mostly stuffed with Hogwarts students on their weekend, she even waved to someone familiar, but there were also a few locals. There was this wizard puffing on a pipe in the corner, a few gray-haired witches cackling happily, and a couple sitting in the corner with their hands intertwined, not saying anything, like they were simply basking in the mere presence of one another.

Her musings were swept away rapidly as a loud shrieking laugh ripped across the room. Jamie turned to the source of the noise, Madame Rosmerta, and saw Remus trying to get her to stop. Jamie smiled, and bet that Remus was bright red in the face right now. Eventually it stopped, with Madame Rosmerta calling out "good luck" to Remus as he turned away from the counter, shaking his head, and navigated his way back to their booth.

"Here we go," Remus set two steaming mugs and a plate down on the table and taking a seat himself. "Be careful, it's hot." Jamie nodded and carefully sipped the amber liquid, then grinned.

"Ohh, it's good! It's just right" She sipped again and smiled blissfully at him as it warmed her up from the inside out. Remus laughed out loud.

"I think I'd love to re-experience everything with you, you're like a child." Remus faltered, "I mean in a good way, like optimistic, er I mean," Jamie waved it off.

"I know what you mean. I'm not optimistic, I just find everything hilarious. Plus I've always figured that showing my reactions would make sure I still had reactions, if you know what I mean, like things will never be bland because I'll… well it's like… Wow, this is hard to explain!" Jamie said, running a hand through her tousled hair, "It kinda goes back to staying young on the inside, I try to look at everything with the eyes of a child, and I think a lot of it stems from reading. Because you have to pay attention to a book, tune in to the underlying tones, and really let yourself drop into it, it gives me this hyper attention to everything." Jamie grinned mischievously, "Like the fact that you were blushing when you came back with the drinks, maybe a casual observer wouldn't have noticed, but I did." She noted with a hint of pride.

Remus scratched the back of his neck, which was also turning red, "It's just warm in here."

"That's a bunch of crap."

"I can't believe we bought so many books." Remus said, changing the subject. Jamie rolled her eyes, but let it slide. She tugged at the dark green lock of hair that twined through her blonde like a snake. It was a test to see if anyone would switch from pink to green, well, a hope really. The bright pinks and purples were becoming an eyesore.

"I can, what's unbelievable is that I had a partner in crime. Usually I spend tons on books all by myself, quite sad really. Most of these are mine anyway." She replied. Remus smiled to himself. _She's so mercurial_, he thought, _One second she's silly and happy, laughter spilling from her eyes, next she's wise and knowing, reminding me of the old wise woman, then she turns around and says she's going to beat the ever loving crap out of you if you say that again, then she's laughing again because of the look on your face. _

"Not until I borrow all yours, then they'll be lost in the dormitories among Sirius's clothes" Remus said.

"No!" Jamie shrieked, "Anything but that, not my precious books!"

"I'm afraid so, it really is quite inevitable." Remus shook his head sadly, enjoying the joke.

"Then I'll come up and get them, you can bet on that."

"You'll dig through James and Sirius's boxers?" Remus said, raising his eyebrows.

"Sure," Remus's eyebrows nearly touched his hairline. "With a ten foot pole I will." Jamie said. They simultaneously burst out laughing, like a dam breaking, and the tavern was flooded with their laughing. As it subsided they just sat drinking their butterbeers and munching on the cookies Remus had also brought. All of a sudden James, Sirius, Vivian, Lizz, and Peter descended on them and pulled up a table and chairs.

"There isn't any actual alcohol in these are there?" Lizz whispered to Jamie as she sat down with her butterbeer.

"I don't think so, I really don't know or care right now." Jamie whispered back, taking another warm sip.

"Oh do tell me what you're whispering about you two, no one likes secrets!" Vivian trilled. She had a hand pointedly on Sirius's lap and was using the other to comb her straight magenta hair.

"I was just asking Lizzabee about your accent Lefleur. It's so very different today!" Jamie trilled back.

"Oh yes," Vivian fluffed her purple hair, "I've been teased for the longest time about my French accent, but just last night I found a potion that can change your accent. It was in one of my magazines."

"Oh yes, but American?" Jamie asked, laughing loudly in her mind that even Vivian's "new accent" still had a British tint to it. "I mean I thought you would have chosen the same accent as your friends. You know, to avoid more teasing?" Something nasty flicked over Vivian's face but was superceded by a dazzling condescending smile.

"Oh I hoped to make you feel more comfortable_, for the time that you're with us_. You know what I mean?" Jamie nodded, and despite her obvious hate for all girls like Vivian, she gave her silent respect. Vivian was not a dumb blonde, she knew how to fight like a lady, though Jamie had a serious desire to she if she could fight with nails just as well as she could with her tongue.

"Potion my ass" Jamie said under her breath, making Lizz cough hard in an effort not to laugh. Jamie looked at Remus, who gave her a lazy mischievous smile.

"What was that about your ass?" Remus said under his breath so only she could hear. Jamie smiled wickedly.

"You know, it's that amazingly hot thing I sit on." She replied, Remus just kept looking at her in with a grin that showed his Marauder colors. Jamie, for all her boldness, was surely turning red under his cutting stare, but pride held her up until she looked away. If there was one thing she had learned about Remus today, it was that he wasn't shy, just quiet, keeping all of his incredible thoughts to himself. Jamie addressed the group, "So has anyone seen Annie on her hot date?"

-not too far away-

"We can see the Shrieking Shack if you like." Snape said to Annie. He smiled, he thought this was all going rather well. Annie wasn't having too bad a time either, though Snape was incredibly shy and there was more than one awkward silence. She told herself, once again, to not forget to not go after guys that were as quiet as her.

"Sure" Annie smiled reassuringly, Snape nodded and they turned down a side street until they were in a small copse. Then they came upon the Shack. Snape told her some of the rumors and myths surrounding the dilapidated old house.

Annie looked at it with slight wonder, it seemed so dark and horrifying, for no real apparent reason, unless you're the sort of person who finds sloping eaves scary. She began to fancy if it had something to do with one of the theories Jamie loved to talk about. It was how humans give off positive or negative energy in accordance to emotion and how it affects the area around it, so that any person would walk in to an area and feel the same way without having a definite reason for it. Like a house where a child was neglected would suddenly make you feel extremely sad and lonely, even if you painted the walls all sorts of bright colors. "Fear is the strongest" she'd say, "The fact that we look upon something with such fear or hatred affects everything, like poison, damaging people and places around you." Jamie didn't always count these theories as fact, it was just something she'd run across in her books, but it still helped explain why the Shack seemed so terrifying.

"Why if it isn't Severus." A voice, with the British equivalent of a southern drawl, said. Annie turned around sharply and tried not to stare. Lucius Malfoy strode down the slope flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. Her mind couldn't keep off the sweeping black robes, the incredible blond hair, and the handsome features.

"Hello Malfoy, is there something I can do for you?" Snape's voice betrayed a wish to do _something_ to Lucius.

"No, no, not today. I simply was passing by and heard your voice. So this is the Annie Martin you were babbling about, you didn't do her justice Severus I swear." Lucius strode down between them and kissed Annie's hand. "So nice to meet you, I'm Lucius Malfoy."

Annie reclaimed her hand. Was this the same guy she had jinxed yesterday? Talk about smooth, too smooth. "Oh yes, you gave James that black eye last Saturday." She said, trying really hard to see the bad side to him. Lucius's smile didn't falter.

"Yes, well I'm sure _you_ can understand. We've been rivals and enemies for a very long time, our parents don't even like each other. Yet, who would like that bunch, always playing petty pranks on everyone in their path. I'm surprised you haven't had something happen to you as of yet. Unless they did that." Lucius gestured to the green lock of hair that was draped across her forehead. "But I hardly think they would give a Gryffindor Slytherin colors." Annie shook her head and laughed, but it sounded shrill to her so she stopped.

Annie would have said something about the experiment but then another Slytherin slide into their mists and stopped her explanation. "Oh hello Blaise," Lucius said to the handsome sixth year. "Would you believe that this is the Annie Martin Snape was talking about?" Annie was seriously on lavender clouds in the midst as Blaise smiled at her when her mind came to a screeching halt.

"Wait!" Annie turned on Snape, "You're the one that attacked Kelli!" Snape nodded mutely, dumbstruck by the turn in her mood. "You're kidding! I had no idea that was you! What the heck is wrong with you? What the heck made you think it was a good idea to attack people? On school grounds! I hope they took away your badge."

"Um, well" Snape scrambled for words that were desperately fleeing, "I was a little off that night, and uh… your friend hasn't told yet, so I still have my badge, and uh… You didn't know that was me?"

You.. you are… I don't know but I'm leaving. I can't believe that was you! And you can bet that McGonagall knows about this." Annie turned to leave, almost turned to say something to Malfoy and Blaise, thought better of it, and ran back to Hogsmeade.

"You really should shut your mouth Severus, nothing of yours looks good hanging open." Lucius smiled. "Well, should someone go after her?" Looking like he would be pleased to.

"No, she was talking early about finding her friends. She's probably with them now, and that includes the Marauders Malfoy, the one that gave broke my nose is dating Lupin." Snape managed to say, he was still flabbergasted at what had just happened. Lucius shrugged,

"Another time then."

-back at Rosmerta's-

Annie slid in between Jamie and Lizz and ignored the stares. Instead of asking embarrassing questions, Jamie tried to keep the conversation going, but she and Lizz could tell something was wrong. "So are we going to see the Shrieking Shack Remus?" she asked. If the table had been quiet at Annie's entrance, it was dead silent now. Surprisingly, Annie piped up.

"Oh no, Jamie you don't want to go there. It's Just an old house that's hasn't been taken care of."

"Besides it's about time to go." James recovered.

"Really?" Jamie said looking at Annie's watch. "Well then you'll have to excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom before we get in the carriage to go back. Annie, Lizz, what about you?"

"Coming." Annie said with Lizz in tow. They got into the bathroom, Jamie checked the stalls, then turned to Annie.

"Ok, what's wrong, and don't tell me nothing, we know you better than that."

"I was on a date with a complete bastard, that I had defended, and didn't know it! Damn it!" Annie snapped.


	14. Bath

**Chapter 14: Bath**

Even as they emerged from the bathroom, Jamie couldn't stop sniggering. Annie was in misery over her blunder, now that the ranting was over, and told her to shut-up for the millionth time. Jamie looked chastised for a moment.

"I'm sorry Anna-dee, but you know me! I can't resist, especially when I think about you yelling at James for asking you why you defended Snape." She said before grinning widely again, "He asked me out and I said yes!" Jamie imitated.

Annie groaned, "Urgh, why didn't you tell me I was dating an evil psycho attacker?" Lizzy clapped a hand over her mouth to stillborn a giggle, "I mean really, now they all think I'm mental as well as interested in Voldemort." They continued towards the table, not noticing the general quiet that had descended upon the tavern.

"I thought you knew. I mean come on, any coincidence why I had his wand and everything in the infirmary?"

"I didn't see or hear anything, I was cleaning up the ointment Madame Pompfrey dropped, and all I came up to see was to see all of them" Annie gestured at the table they were approaching. "Laughing at this perfectly black robed guy who was seriously hurt. You guys know me, I get all-"

"psycho?" Jamie said.

"righteous?" Lizz suggested.

"O, good one Lizzy."

"-when people are being bullies." Annie finished. "Anyway, how did your guy's days go?"

"Vivian is a slutty… b-" Lizz hesitated, "Well she's the biggest you-know-what in the entire world!"

"You know, some day your inability to cuss is going to kill you." Jamie said sadly.

"I hate cussing okay! How was your date?" Lizz sneered.

"Not a date!" Jamie laughed. "Okay but you guys know how I was like talking about how shy Remus was?"

"Yah"

"He's not! I mean I think he just has to balance out Sirius and James so he acts like a grandpa. But hell, after we had talked for ten minutes he totally opened up." Jamie stopped for a big breath. When she was excited about something and wanted to talk about it, she did it loudly with lots of hand motions and with words tumbling from her lips as quickly as they could. It was something she had inherited from her mother. "He's hilarious and smart and not to mention not shy! He's read a lot of the same books and we bought tons, plus he's got to be one of the first guys I've met who have morals yet I could say 'nice ass Remus' and he turned around and say 'not as fine as yours.' And laugh it off!"

"Jamie!" Lizz said. But the discussion ended there as they approached the table.

"All good to go?" James asked, standing up. Annie nodded and looked at him, severely hoping he didn't think- but he looked back with a simple searching hazel-eyed stare. Annie unconsciously pulled her robe tighter around her as if he could see right through her. Just then, Jamie and Remus's books cascaded onto the floor, giving Annie an excuse to look away to bend down and help them pick them up.

They made their way to the invisibly drawn carriages, putting about four to a carriage. Annie poked her head out the window to watch the village fade away before getting more comfortable in her seat. The hairs on the back of her head raised and she was sure someone was watching her, but looked up only to see James watching Lizz knit a crimson scarf. Annie shifted again, careful to not knock over Jamie's books and looked back out the window.

The castle rose above them, imperious and strong, yet it was already a happy home for Annie. They all had grown to love the ancient castle, slow steps and all, except for Jamie, who had declared it was the best place in the entire freaking world as they were ushered up the slopes the very first day. The setting sun peeked quickly through bridges and arches, glinting off windows before relinquishing the sky to the stars.

--------------

Jamie carefully stacked her new books next to her bed using bookends from enlarged candles. After she had finished she ran a finger under each gleaming title, back and forth until she pulled one out. Landing in her bed, she scooted down and punched her pillows into a comfortable position before settling her head down. Her blonde hair fanned out like a small halo, but Jamie realized this and pulled it all down to one side before opening her book. She didn't open to the first page, but randomly in the middle to any old page. Jamie stuck her nose deep into the spine and smelt the book. A deep, familiar, musty scent wafted up her nose, the same except for that touch of something else, a different mustiness that characterized each book.

"This will be good." Jamie proclaimed to no one in particular. She smiled and turned to page one. Once upon a time…

-''3 hrs later''-

Jamie put her book down for a moment as a terrible scent seared through her senses. "Ugh, what is that?" Jamie pulled her sleeve over her mouth so she could breathe. In the doorway, Lizz stood unhappily with practically visible fumes coming off her. Her eyes shone with tears, both from the smell and the utter meanness of the Marauder who had just received five minutes of outraged berating.

"Oh, Lizza-bee! Which one did it?" Jamie said, though she sounded muffled through her sleeve.

"Black" Lizz sniffed, "I really don't know what his problem is! I mean he was enough of jerk, letting his girlfriend treat me like dirt all day today at Hogsmeade, but come on, stink bombs!" Jamie smiled at a personal image of Sirius pulling a muzzle over Vivian's mouth ("If you behave we'll take it off, okay honey?"). "This'll take ten showers to clean off!" Jamie's mind reeled at trying to read with this smell hanging around the room.

"You know what Lizz? You can use the prefect bathroom, it's the right one after the statue of Boris the Bewildered on the second floor. Password's "cinnamint"."

"I can go in there? I thought it was only for prefects."

"It is." Jamie shrugged a shrug that suggested she really shouldn't be prefect at all, and probably wouldn't be one if she wasn't so good at making stuff up (lying is such a nasty word). "All the Marauders use it though, plus no one's bound to be in there right now, and if it's empty you can lock the door."

"Awesome! Does it have towels?" Lizz was excited though she stunk to high heaven, oh but relief was in sight! She ran into the bathroom to scoop up her usual shower accessories.

"Yep. Don't bring anything, it had some fabulous shampoo, but don't use the stuff from the ruby-encrusted copper faucet, it's got a decidedly cologne smell to it." Lizz dropped her toiletries bag and headed towards the door.

"Make sure you lock the bathroom door behind you!" Jamie shouted, but Lizz was already half way down the stairs. Jamie opened a window and took deep gulps of Lizz-free air. She would have built a new bathroom if it meant keeping Lizz from showering in the adjoining bathroom.

Lizz scampered down the stairs excitedly, glad that they were clear of a crowd for once. The few students patiently waiting for the staircases to finish their turning cleared a path for her, or for the stench that presented itself before she did.

"cinnamint!" Lizz whispered breathlessly at the door to the right of the weird statue. It creaked open and she ran inside.

She walked into an open chamber, there were two doors. One said "Men's Lockers" and the other "Women Lockers". She walked carefully into the women's, but there wasn't anyone there. The first thing she saw was series of lockers with all of the prefect's names on them, the four female one's anyway. Jamie's was second from the right and had a rough carving of a lion on it. Lizz tried to open it and the silver lock snapped at her with small, key shaped teeth, drawing blood.

"Ow, you stupid thing!" The lock subsided smugly. Lizz sucked on her thumb to help the pain until she walked over and rinsed it under the one of the porcelain sinks. Then she looked around for an open locker. There weren't any so she left her clothes folded on the bench in locker rooms and cocooned herself in towels before stepping out into the actual bath-room.

Marble covered the ground in dizzying mosaics and arching stone columns swept up to a tall ceiling. There was a single stain-glass window occupied by a mermaid who fled as Lizz's smell reached her peach glass nose. Lizz looked at the (well more of a pool really) tub. It got very deep at one end and up to as shallow as a foot as it came closer to the steps. Lizz carefully folded her towels next to the steps and crossed the room to the faucets that flanked the tub. She turned on two small faucets that were labeled hot and cold. Though they looked small, the tub filled up in a few minutes with steaming water.

She got in slowly and carefully as the warm water encased her body. She swam around in the water a bit, wallowing in the exhilarating and relaxing feeling of the hot water against her skin. She came up laughing and waded back over to the many and, in some cases, jewel-encrusted faucets. Lizz enjoyed playing with blue square bubbles that smelled like rosemary, diamond-shaped yellow bubbles with a foreign spice smell, and finally, long twisty red and white bubbles that smelled like peppermint.

She washed her hair with a purple lilac-smelling shampoo and even used some conditioner before wading to the other side of the tub where eight identical silver faucets were lined up. Lizz noticed each of them had a prefect's name on a small silver plaque beneath them. Out of curiosity she turned on Jamie's just for a second. Green bubbles that smelled like tangerines and lemons and limes spewed out happily and made musical notes as they popped. The big ones made deep base notes while the tiny ones made little tinkling notes as they popped rapidly. Lizz also turned on Remus's (out of curiosity), expecting something as fantastic as Jamie's, but a steady froth of light blue foam poured out. They didn't even do anything interesting, Lizz frowned then smelled it by cupping a small amount in her hand. It had a general good old-fashioned clean soap smell, coupled with a male musk and a smell that was like fresh grass. There was something else there, however she sneezed before she could figure out what it was. The foam flew everywhere and then dissolved in the water, leaving only a white trail that was lost among the rainbow of soaps.

Lizz looked farther down the tub at three shabby copper faucets that literally looked like they had been glued on haphazardly. Curiosity getting the better of her, she turned the one that had an "SB" scratched on the side.

Sirius walked through the door labeled "Men's Lockers" and shucked off his clothes hurriedly. He wrapped a towel around his waist and smiled at himself in the mirror before walking into the bathroom. Damn James and his avenging pranks. So what if he had stink-bombed Lizz, her yelling had cut him enough, he didn't need knight in shining armor Potter to decide to stink-bomb him back.

A coughing and sputtering sound came from the tub. Sirius realized not only was there someone in it clawing at the edge to get out, but it was overflowing with his personal bubble bath. Sirius ran over to the side of the tub and turned off his faucet. The bubbles receded and the bath's occupant sunk slowly back into the water.

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked, walking back over to the steps.

Lizz screamed, spinning around, and Sirius yelled in surprise and backed away. Lizz realized exactly who was in the room with her.

"Black?"

"Lawrence, are, are you okay?" She blushed furiously as he looked in disbelief at her, and sank lower in the water, hoping the dark blue bubbles and her hands were covering her. She looked back up at him. He was practically naked himself, with a towel loosely wrapped around his tapered waist, hung low and in danger of falling off from all the excitement. Lizz tried not to notice that he was well built and that most of him would have been described be someone who knew what chiseled meant. Sirius meanwhile was trying to not look down at the faint blur in the water, but being who he was, it was hard.

"Um yes, I'm fine. That was your, er… bubble bath?" Lizz looked down at his toes.

"Um yes…it-" For a second longer they stared in disbelief, then reality came back from its coffee break.

"GET OUT!" Lizz shrieked. Sirius was already halfway to the lockers. Just before he vanished behind the door, his towel slipped down the rest of the way, and Lizz got a glimpse of his butt that she really never had any wish to see.

"Oh my God" they said to themselves, only a wall away.

After another half hour, just to be sure, and after the bathwater had gone ice cold, Lizz crept out of the tub and hurriedly wrapped four towels around herself before booking it back into the locker room. She dried off and pulled her clothes on, ignoring the rows of lotions offered, and headed for the door. Next to the door was a plaque that she hadn't noticed before. It read:

**Females:**

**Mon (5:00 am)-Wednesday (1:00pm)**

**Males:**

**Wednesday (1:30 pm)- Friday (12:00 am)**

**Open:**

**Friday (1:00pm)- Monday (4:00 am)**

**Please note, to ensure privacy please remember to lock the door (use attached key), especially during open times over the weekend. We heavily reprimand irresponsible behavior in the prefect baths.**

"Oh great tell me now!" Lizz shouted at the plaque. It didn't respond (which really is a surprise when you're living at Hogwarts). She sighed and headed back to rooms, trying to think of something else besides Sirius's nearly nude body.

When she got back to the dormitories, Jamie and Annie were having fun partially changing into their animal shapes. Annie's knees were bent backward and two talons protruded from her pajama bottoms, not to mention her hair had turned into red-brown feathers. Jamie laughed and tapped her nose, pulling it into a long snout and causing two furry triangles to protrude form her hair. Annie laughed but Jamie stopped and spun towards Lizz in the doorway, her black nose quivering.

"What?" Lizz asked. Jamie didn't respond but circled her snuffling at her arms and face. Jamie's snout relapsed into her human mouth that was smiling secretly. "What!" Lizz demanded.

"You smell like Sirius Black." Jamie smiled evilly and Annie gasped. "You reek of him" Jamie said.

"Do not!"

"Come on Lizz, have you ever doubted this nose?" Jamie tapped the side of her human nose. "I know what he smells like. I know what they all smell like. Not to mention what you smell like. God Lizz, I can smell it now." Lizz open and closed her mouth in disbelief. _The bubble bath!_

"Lizz were you…?" Annie began worriedly, walking over on falcon feet. Jamie snickered.

"No! You guys have to believe me! I turned on his faucet in the prefect's bath, it almost killed me it filled up the bath so fast, and, and…" Lizz debated to tell them or not, it was too embarrassing, "I got out of there so quickly I didn't realize I still smelt like his cologne! Please believe me, I wouldn't-"

"Hand me your bracelet." Jamie said, still with a smile. Lizz tugged it off and handed it over. Jamie tapped her nose with her wand and sniffed it, turning it over and over to be sure. She handed it back to Lizz. "She's telling the truth, her clothes don't smell like him, it's just her skin."

"What? Did you think I was lying? I mean me and Black?" Lizz shuddered and they laughed, "Come on, I wouldn't even hold his hand to keep him from falling over a cliff!"

Sirius Black sighed with relief as he got in the red tiled shower in the boys dormitories. After a minute he turned the hot water off and just letting the cold run.


	15. Night Terrors

**Chapter 15: Night Terrors**

Jamie's eyes shot open. She heard terrified screaming, and then realized it was coming from her own mouth. She was also sobbing and sweaty. In the darkness of her dorm, two dark figures lurched forward and grabbed her arms, holding her down to her bed. Jamie fought; frantic, frightened, and fully prepared to scream again.

"Jamie!" One of the demons said, in a soft but panicky voice. It reached a hand out to her face, but instead of clammy talons clutching at her face, Annie's hand, still softly rough from years of Quidditch, swept her damp forehead. A light flared up in the corner from the direction of the other demon, revealing the frightened face of Lizz. "Jamie," Annie carefully tucked wet strands of hair behind Jamie's ears, her eyes searching for any kind of madness in the Jamie's vivid blue eyes.

Jamie tried to speak, to assure, to ask, anything, but was surprised to find her voice so hoarse from screaming that it all came out as a dry wheeze. She gulped dryly and tried again, "What, uh," Jamie coughed harshly, "was… was I screaming?" Annie and Lizz released her and Jamie wiped the tears off her face with trembling hands.

"Yes!" Lizz whispered harsher than she meant to, "God Jamie, it was awful! You just started screaming at the top of your lungs! It was…" Lizz shuddered involuntarily.

"Bloodcurdling." Annie finished. "What were you screaming abo-" Annie was interrupted by a gaggle of first year girls bursting fearfully through the dorm door. They were pushed aside by the rest of the Gryffindor girl population, who were parted by a stormy McGonagall in a night robe and curlers.

"What is going on here?" She demanded loudly. Jamie cringed, but her blood still boiled in her veins. Waking up sweaty, crying, and screaming was hard enough to handle, but getting barked at by Professor McGonagall was not something she was going to deal with. She didn't care if she lost her prefect position, or even admittance to the school at all, it didn't matter if it all boiled down to an obvious psychological problem with authority, Jamie was pissed and she was about ready to let everyone know it.

"Jamie had a nightmare." Annie said loudly, looking quickly between Jamie and McGonagall. Jamie was shaking angrily, her face flushed even more than it had been when she had woken up.

"Really?" Squeaked a second year. McGonagall gave the girl, who shut up immediately, a sharp but weary look, but Jamie smiled, her anger draining away as the impromptu moment passed, leaving only a buzz of irritation.

"Yes," Jamie said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, "Terribly sorry to have woken you all up."

"Yes, well don't let it happen again Bilden. Merlin's beard!" McGonagall turned to the other girls fiercely. "All of you, back to your beds! If I see hide or hair of any you out of your beds again tonight it'll be an instant detention!" The girls scurried back to their respective beds, only smiling sympathetically at her before closing the door behind them.

Jamie fell back onto her pillows with a_ whumpf_. They were all silent for a few long moments, disturbed only by the soft, worried hooting of Jamie's brown owl in the corner. Lizz edged closer to the head of the bed so she could look at Jamie.

"So… what were you dreaming about?" She asked. Jamie sighed and sat up.

"I don't know, I really don't." Jamie tried to wipe away the sweat on her forehead with her sleeve before realizing her pajamas were just as wet. With disgust she also realized her pajamas and even sheets were damply sticking to her skin. Jamie sighed in tired irritation and kicked herself free from her sheets. "Look guys," Addressing Annie and Lizz, who were still crouched by her bed. Jamie grabbed a bra that had been discarded earlier off the top of her trunk and began to put it on under her shirt. Ranting in her head, she noted that sometimes it really sucked to have a size D cup. She couldn't get away with not wearing a bra under thick sweatshirts or buy certain clothing because it was too tight across the chest. And now she had to put a stupid bra on just in case she was seen. She knew she was just irritated because of the whole situation, but it still sucked.

If the reader has of yet pictured Jamie as a skinny little blonde, or a typical bikini wearing Californian, let the author give a more in depth description. Jamie is tall, with (as mentioned) a big chest, and long legs (leggy). Her hair isn't platinum, it hasn't been since she was three, but it's a shiny gold on top where the sun touches it, with a darker honey underneath. She's not skinny, but she's not fat, she managed awhile ago to hit that nice area in between where she's healthily curvy. She usually works out for a half hour a day, and swimming competively for several years has made her unusually strong. She has eerily blue eyes and ruddy Scandinavian cheeks. Unless she's been tanning seriously for weeks, she usually isn't very tan, however she's never really hits "pale". One word to properly describe her is Buxom.

"I'm going down to the common room, I need to cool off. I feel like I'm choking in here." Jamie paused to dig in her trunk, "If you want to hear about it tonight you can come down, but I won't blame you for decently going back to sleep." Jamie also decided to change pajamas and dug out an old pair of plaid shorts and a faded matching green shirt.

"I'm coming"

"Me too!" Lizz and Annie followed Jamie out of the door and down the spiral staircase. Only a quarter of the way down however, the steps flattened into a slide.

"Oh come on!" Jamie yelled as they began to slide. "Move your arse whoever's down there! We don't have brakes in our butts!"

"Jamie!" Lizz admonished as Annie giggled behind her. They slid into a clearing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey it worked didn't it?" Jamie said, letting herself be helped up by some friendly Gryffindor boys. The space at the bottom of the stairs was occupied by most of the guys in the house, in various states of undress. The younger boys were fully pajama'd, while the older boys mainly had only pajama bottoms on, or looked like they had just pulled their boxer shorts on in the dark. Jamie's eyes couldn't help flickering over the assemblage of bare chests and tight shirts. Then she looked up at the curious faces and glared. The Glare said something like this; "I'm extremely pissed, in fact I'm just barely concealing mountains of full on bitchiness. I'm going to give you all ten seconds to either explain yourself or run back to bed before I don't even use my wand but kick you right where you don't want me too." Saying a paragraph in a single look was a skill she was very proud of.

"Um, are you all alright? We heard screaming…" A confident sixth year asked tentatively. Jamie gave him a tooth-ache smile. He turned red as he took himself in and realized he was only wearing a pair of green boxers, but managed to maintain eye contact. Jamie smiled wider.

"Yes, silly little me," the guy was wary, "I went and had a nightmare, and woke up screaming. Now as I am trying to come down and relax, I get one heck of a ride, thanks to some poor somebody who's going to get it if they don't reveal who they are immediately." Jamie stopped. Her smile faded.

"Um, sorry, I …" A first year stepped up, pushed forward by the mob. "I didn't know! I never tried to go into the girls dorms before!" Jamie put her hand on his shoulder and truly smiled. She had to quell the urge to hug him and ruffle his blonde hair like she would her own little brother.

"It's okay, it's not your fault buddy. You should go back to bed though, in fact…" Jamie turned to the group. "You all should." Most of them were already half way up their stairs after seeing the show was over. She waited until they had all left, all except the Marauders, the sixth year, and a few of his mates.

"You sure your fine?" The sixth year said leerily, making Jamie aware, as her anger faded, of how small her shorts and shirt had become since she had last worn them several years ago (not to mention riding up from her slide). Oh, and that there was definitely a healthy view of her midriff.

"Yes." She said testily, looking away, meeting Remus's gaze. The guy shrugged and smiled again, doing another once over before turning back to his room with his friends. Remus smiled at her, meeting her eyes in a knowing glance. Jamie didn't see him let go of his wand as the guy went back up to his dorm.

"Are you really okay?" Remus said, walking up to her, honest concern shining in his easily readable grey eyes. He couldn't help taking in the long curvy legs and midriff though, and Jamie pulled at her shirt uncomfortably under his gaze.

"I'll be once I sit and get some air." Jamie said, leading the Californians and Marauders, who stayed by some unspoken consent, into the common room. James and Sirius pulled up several couches and they all sat. Lizz trying to not look at Sirius, Sirius looking at her without realizing it, Peter trying to inch closer to Lizz, James looking at Annie as she looked at Jamie with worry, Remus looking at Jamie, and Jamie looking at them all, taking mental notes as she wrapped her legs under her and held a pillow in front of her revealing outfit. Remus produced some wrapped chocolate from his pajama pocket and proffered it to Jamie.

"Here," Jamie took it and smiled.

"Chocolate?" she took a bite.

"It's been clinically proven that chocolate makes you feel better, and that's just the muggle variety. Honeyduke's chocolate is magically proven to help with your mental well being as well as give you strength." Remus quoted, sounding a bit like a textbook. Jamie munched appreciatively, feeling the pleasing effects. "Madame Pompfrey even keeps some in her medicine cabinet for just such times."

"Thank you." She said even though she had been wishing more to know why he had chocolates in his pajama pocket. Jamie munched a bit more before looking up at the group, whose attention was trained on her. Inwardly she sighed. She didn't really want to talk about it, not this. It was like letting Snape see he had affected her, it was very personal and made her feel like she was showing a weakness, a soft spot.

"Okay, I had a nightmare." She began, "I don't remember what it was about, all I know is that I've had it two times before." she nervously pulled her fingers through her tousled hair.

"When?" Remus asked, folding his long legs underneath him as well.

"Um… Sunday night, that night after you guys gave us the tour, and Wednesday night."

"Weren't we in Astronomy on Wednesday night, for the midnight observation of Jupiter?" Remus replied.

"Yah, it was after that. The two times before I just woke up in the morning sweaty and scared. I've never been screaming like I did tonight, for which I heartily apologize." Jamie looked at them all pleadingly, hoping they would understand. "All I know is," Jamie looked down at the glowing embers of the fire, and her voice went quiet, solemn, and strangely distant. The world seemed to lean in to listen. "Is that I wake up totally and completely and afraid. I'm scared, I'm desperate, and I can't stand it. It's pure and terrible fear that I feel, nothing else, not even my usual will to fight it. I don't know what I'm afraid off, maybe I never will, and because of that I can't work my way around it. I can't apply logic or reason to it, to make it less scary because I simply don't know why I'm so afraid!" Jamie clenched her fists in anger. "I don't know if I'm running, hiding, fighting to get free, anything!" A warm hand squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. Jamie looked at the hand. It was rough from holding a broomstick, large, clean, with long fingers and a thin gold ring glinting from the index finger. She looked up into Remus's eyes and saw… understanding? No, but it was, total and complete understanding that unreasonably puzzled Jamie.

"What you have is called a night terror;" Annie said, breaking the moment, "a repeating nightmare. Sometimes people have to take meds for them because there's something wrong in their life that their subconscious deals with by replaying the nightmare until the thing is fixed. It's the same reason people sleep walk."

"Great! There's something that's bugging me and my subconscious is letting me know by giving me nightmares! Fab-U-lous!" Jamie snapped.

"Well, are you homesick? That's usually what sets this kind of thing off." Annie asked.

"You know I'm not. No, how could I be? I'm in a place that I can only describe as enchanting, with best friends, and managing to get letters from my mom three times a week. Plus, I've never ever gotten homesick before."

"I bet you miss Ryan." Lizz said with a touch of wickedness.

"I do, but…" Jamie didn't know what to say. She missed him, sure, anyone would. He was first her best friend and secondly her boyfriend, but it wasn't like she was pinning away for his caress or whatever. No, what she missed was the simple stability of him, dependable and predictable in the most stressful times of her life. "I think what I miss about Ryan is his support," Jamie consented, "but it's not like I'm completely cut off from him, and I know he won't cheat, he's too noble."

"Still, that makes the most sense" Annie countered. Jamie shrugged, mainly wanting to end the subject altogether. She felt Remus withdraw his hand, and also stare at the fire, his gray eyes glinting. She didn't see his cloudy eyes, which always betrayed his thoughts when the rest of him was uncommunicative, were stony and shut away, unreadable. But James could just make them out from where he was sitting and frowned uncharacteristically.

"You know what now is a perfect time for?" James announced, letting a smile open across his face.

"What?" Lizz said.

"A good old-fashioned game of Coed Truth or Dare!" James said excitedly, rubbing his hands together. Jamie perked up, turning from Remus.

"Oh, awesome! You have to play by our rules though!" Jamie said, "Annie can you get the rules and the rose?" Annie was already half out of her chair, and rushed up to their dorm. Jamie shivered, looked down at her goose bumpy legs, and decided she should snag some of their blankets as well and followed Annie up.

"The rose?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"You'll see." Lizz said deliberately.


	16. The Essential Truth or Dare

**Author's Note: sigh because every fanfic needs one;**

**Chapter 16: The Essential Truth or Dare**

Jamie's head barely poked out from the pile of blankets that she was bringing down the stairs, swaying dangerously, but finally she managed to make it to the circle of people. With a smirk, she dumped the pile on Lizz, who shrieked from the flood of cloth unexpectedly piled on her head.

"Okay, I have three extra blankets, and here's yours off your beds Annie and Lizz." Jamie personally pulled a large Moroccan quilt of bright blues and greens out of the pile. She pulled it around her in a swirl of white, embroidered flowers. Annie and Lizz grabbed the decorative blankets they had brought from home, and the guys grabbed the standard issue Hogwart's blankets that the girls had discarded on their first night. Remus, by choice or severe politeness, was the only one left without one.

Annie sat down in her former spot in the circle on the floor between James and Jamie. While twirling a cloth red rose with a plastic green stem between her fingers, Annie began to read the Co-ed rules of truth or dare to the eager and excited listeners.

**THE RULES OF CO-ED TRUTH OR DARE: as created by the great goddess of insanity and the avenger of worlds.**

**A truth spell or a truth indictor must be present during the game**

**Victims must answer "TRUTH" questions truthfully within a minute or be forced to kiss another player of the opposite sex of the questioners choice**

"**TRUTH"s cannot be "would you rather" or ifs.**

**If the questioner is having trouble coming up with a good truth or dare, they may cede the question to someone else, however the victim never changes.**

"**DARE"s cannot be any kind of magic that the victim is truly incapable of doing, or contain any kind of seen nudity.**

**If the victim refuses to carry out the "DARE" then they shall have to take two spoonfuls of a previously determined concoction, potion, etc.**

"**DARE"s are allowed to go on for up to two weeks or be carried out on a determined date up to three months in the future.**

"**DARE"s cannot be repeated, but "TRUTH"s can.**

**No tag backs, a person cannot be "Truth or Dare"ed again until another three people have gone.**

**Don't be lame, have fun, and have some freaking imagination!**

"The last one was purely Jamie." Annie said, stating the obvious.

"Is she the Great Goddess of Insanity?" Remus asked. Jamie smiled roguishly in return, and threw the extra length of her blanket at him. He frowned questioningly at her from beneath the quilt. His brown hair was tousled and sticking in his eyes.

"I can see you shivering. I'll share with you." Jamie remarked simply. Remus's mouth opened to decline, but Jamie's hand silenced him. "I don't mind, this blanket is made for more than one person, so stop being so noble." Remus, determining the pros and cons of such an action, finally pulled more of the blanket around his broad shoulders, creating a ten around Jamie and him.

"How should we decide who goes first?" Lizz asked.

"I know a randomizing spell." Remus said, pulling his wand out of his pocket. He pushed a lock of hair behind his ear and raised his wand. Jamie thought it was interesting that he had a spell for everything while she had a practical answer, like eeny meeny miny moe, for everything. Remus flicked his sturdy oak wand and muttered something under his breath. A blue floating flame appeared in the center of them and slowly floated directly over Jamie's head. Lizz groaned.

"Great, Jamie's going first!" She moaned. "You keep your dirty questions to yourself!" She said, pointing an accusing finger at her. The Marauders looked bemused.

"Aw, then it's not fun Lizza-bee," She said. Annie wordlessly handed her the plastic rose, secretly pleased to have them hear about Jamie's (and all of their) dirty mind. Jamie pushed a green button on the stem and it lit up.

"Brilliant! Is that the truth indicator?" James asked, a true magic mechanic.

"Yep, it lights up when you tell the truth and turns brown and dead when you don't. Now who's first?" Jamie's blue eyes flicked over the crowd like twin spotlights until she targeted Lizz. She tossed the rose to Lizz. "Okay Lizz, Truth or Dare?" Lizz paused for second, trying to determine which was the lesser of the two evils.

"Truth."

"Hmmm, good choice." Jamie paused, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "Does Sirius have a nice arse?" Lizz groaned and covered her head with her purple blanket. Sirius looked up in surprise and smiled devilishly, but Lizz kept her eyesight trained away from him. Instead she turned on her supposed friend. James and Remus were sniggering, having heard what had happened themselves from Sirius. Peter was looking as angry and affronted as he could manage.

"Oh come on, I told you that on confidence of death!" Lizz cried.

"You still have to answer."

"You are no friend of mine! You are… are" Lizz said.

"I believe the word you're looking for is villain" Remus said. Jamie punched his arm.

"Come on Lizz, you know the answer. My arse is renowned!" Sirius cajoled, Lizz still didn't look at him.

"I wouldn't know!" Lizz snapped, but the rose wilted in her hand. Jamie and Annie grinned.

"What deary?" Jamie said, making a show of cupping her hand to her ear. "Don't tell me you didn't tell the truth!"

"Who does she have to kiss?" Annie asked. Lizz looked a little like a fish out of water at the moment.

"Well that's blooming obvious isn't it? Sirius." Jamie said. Lizz was really going to kill her later, really freaking kill her in the middle of the night. She looked at Sirius, who was being a git, and smiling expectantly. Lizz leaned forward and tried to peck him quickly, aiming for the cheek, but he pushed his lips forward and claimed hers completely. Lizz had meant to be totally casual, but she snorted in surprise as their lips made contact. Of course, she tried to pull away, but Sirius had decided to savor this moment, and nipped her bottom lip playfully. She pushed him off furiously. Unfamiliar heat was spreading quickly through her body, her pulse was going crazy, and she hated it.

"God, Black!" was all she could manage. Her cheeks were a hectic pink that spread down her shirt.

"Aw, you know you loved it Lawrence." Sirius smiled, seeing the pink in Lizz's cheeks. He knew exactly what kind of effect he had had on her.

"No I didn't! I hated it and I hate you." Lizz half-shouted and covered her head in anger and shame. She really, really hated him! If had been James, maybe she would have laughed it off or merely blushed and smiled, but Sirius? He knew exactly what he was doing to her and did it anyway. He didn't care about how she felt just that he had managed to embarrass her. He was such a bloody freaking git! How could he be like that? She truly hated him for it.

"Lizzy it's your turn to ask." Lizz came out of her purple cocoon and turned to Remus. She tossed him the rose. Sirius was, for once, looking contemplative, picking at a spot on his pajama bottoms.

"Okay Remus, Truth or Dare?"

"Dare"

"Oh, gutsy Remus." Jamie commented. Lizz thought about it for a second.

"You have to go down to the kitchens and get enough hot chocolate for everyone." Lizz said. "And no magic to help you either." Remus frowned.

"What makes you think I know where the kitchens are anyway?" he said.

"Oh come on, you guys know the inns and outs of this place." Annie countered. Remus shrugged and pushed out of the blanket. He walked out of the portal confidently, but looked around carefully before heading down the hallway.

"Do you think he'll do it without being caught?" Jamie asked the remaining Marauders.

"I don't know." James responded. "He can be an excellent sneak, better than me, but without being able to use magic he won't be able to use most of our secret passages."

"How many secret passages are there anyway?" Annie asked. James smiled.

"You'll never find out until you become a Marauder."

About ten minutes later, Remus came back through the portal, not only with the hot chocolate, but a tray with all the fixings including a plate of chocolate cookies.

"Now that's doing a Dare with style," Jamie remarked as Remus swept seven steaming mugs in front of them. "I am duly impressed Remus Lupin. You shall have to show me your skills of sneaking one day."

"Thank you." Remus said, pleased. He snagged a cookie before handing the flower to Annie.

"Truth or Dare?"

"Truth" Annie said. For a second she remembered that for the first week of school or so she had had half a crush on him. If she still had it, she would have answered 'dare' to show him how she was brave and risky. Remus paused and thought about of a good question. Peter sneezed into his blanket and Jamie and Lizz didn't hide their grimaces.

"What are you most insecure about?"

"Deep, but you're being daft Remus." James said, and looked at Annie. "There can't be anything because she's so hypocritical."

"I am not hypocritical!" Annie asserted, "You're just angry because I wouldn't agree with you. You're being silly about the whole thing Potter."

"What are you talking about?" Lizz asked.

"He has this whole theory that he was explaining to me tonight about their pranking, and then got all upset when I didn't agree with him. He started calling me a hypocrite over it," Annie said and pointed her nose snootily in the air away from James.

"It makes sense!" James demanded.

"No it doesn't! Not one little bit! It's just something to make you feel better about meanly pranking other people." She retorted.

"What is this theory anyway?" Jamie asked finally. James tried to answer, but Remus cut him off.

"It's too complicated and makes no logical sense anyway, so don't ask. Besides, Annie still hasn't answered my bloody question." James fumed silently.

"Okay, I think my biggest insecurity is not knowing" The rose in her hand bloomed and lit up with a scarlet light shining out from its center. Annie smiled at it beatifically for a second and then handed it to James. The petals closed up and the light died, the rose waited for the truth.

"Truth or Dare?" Annie challenged him.

"I think I'll rise to the occasion and choose dare." James countered confidently. Jamie smiled wickedly and tapped on Annie's shoulder. Annie leaned over and Jamie whispered something in her ear. Annie's mouth dropped.

"No way!" Annie said adamantly. Then she chuckled, "Besides my friend, that's against the rules you sent down." Jamie frowned petulantly and crossed her arms. "Besides," Annie gave James her own wicked smile, "I have a better one for Mr. Potter."

"Oh, am I scared." James said sarcastically.

"James Potter I dare you to not prank, trick, or derive amusement from anyone else's embarrassment or pain for two weeks." Silence reigned for two moments, then…

-Jamie cheered loudly, praising Annie for finding the one thing that would be the hardest for James to actually accomplish, the confident prick. All in jest of course.

-James's face fell and he turned a nasty pale colour. His fists gripped the edge of his blanket as his mind reeled in the sheer enormity of the dare and the eternity of two weeks.

-Lizz tried to comfort James, unsuccessfully because at the same time she was praising Annie along with Jamie.

-Peter didn't hear what Annie said, because he had somehow fallen asleep. However, he woke up at Jamie's cheering and rolled over.

-Sirius was sniggering and teasing "poor widdle Jamesie". Not to mention drawing up a mental list of all the things he was going to do to him for the next two weeks when he couldn't exact revenge.

-Remus put a hand over his mouth and tried not to show he was laughing so hard. He did however mutter, "Bloody brilliant," and "I'll have peace for once," and "Bloody brilliant!" again a touch louder.

-Annie smiled triumphantly and was about to rub it in just a touch more when James spoke.

"Okay what gunk do I have to eat to get out of this? That's part of your completely mental rules isn't it?"

"Oh nothing, just an apple that's been in my trunk." Jamie gave him her Cheshire cat smile, "For three and half weeks, in a little bag. It's just all mushy and brown with little white spots." James blanched, and decided to take the dare.

"And remember," Annie trilled, pleased with her success over him. "If you break the dare, you have to eat the apple anyway!"

-------

Remus was the first to wake early the following morning out of force of habit. He tried to turn over and go back to sleep, but Jamie sighed next to him and moved restlessly so he stopped. His mind finally woke up with the rest of him and realized that the blonde's head was resting against his chest and her whole body was draped against his side. His very own treacherous arm was wrapped around her waist as well, and what he was holding was bare to the skin because her small shirt had ridden up. Her embroidered colorful blanket was draped over them both. Remus carefully looked down at her. In time with his, her chest moved up and down regularly as she breathed. Chapped, dark pink lips were parted in sleep and her long lashes fluttered against her cheeks. This close, he could see the very tips of them were blond instead of black. Her arm was draped across his body, with her chipped nail polish hand resting on his opposite shoulder. Her snores were light, but maybe it just seemed that way against the cacophony of snores coming from Sirius and James. At that moment, to him, she looked incredibly beautiful, though he really had no exact idea why.

Remus remembered now why he was lying on the floor of the common room with Jamie, literally, in his arms. The night before, after truth or dare had gotten boring they had lain on the floor on their stomachs, mainly talking, until they had fallen asleep one by one. Remus and Jamie had still been sharing her Moroccan quilt so they had fallen asleep right next to each other, and like in books and those silly things people like to write in their bedrooms late at night, they had snuggled together for warmth. He had to admit, he was almost surprised they hadn't woken up spooning.

Carefully and regretfully, he began disentangling himself from Jamie and her quilt. Her scent was inescapable, and too-familiar that heady, tangy scent that was so very her now pervaded his clothes. He inched away a bit more and she whined fitfully in protest like a child. Remus looked around desperately, and finally snagged a scarlet pillow off the couch with his foot. Being as careful as Indiana Jones in the temple of whatever, he replaced his shoulder with the pillow. Jamie accepted the transfer and went back to sleep with her arms wrapped tightly around the replacement. He went upstairs, showered, dressed, and checked off another day on his lunar calendar. _Another day closer to a full moon._ Remus sighed and ran a hand through his brown hair, noting that it would fall on a school night instead of conveniently on the weekend. _This Thursday night._ He thought blandly to himself. He tapped the keystone on the arch over one of their windows. The panes shivered and the view shifted until it showed the view of a window overlooking the stone circle. To the right was the path to the whomping willow, Remus could see it's branches moving from here, and to the left was the path down to Hagrid's hut and the entrance to the school. He opened the window and climbed through and walked down the path towards Hagrid's hut. The young gamekeeper greeted him from the garden.

Jamie woke up about ten minutes later because she was shivering so very hard. Blearily she cast away the pillow and looked around. There seemed to be something missing in their little slumbering group. Remus! She could barely remember him, probably thinking she was asleep, trying to stay as far away from her under the blanket as he could. He wasn't here now though. She looked around, half expecting him to be gentlemanly sleeping on a couch, but only discovered an imprint of a tall, broad form in the rug right next to her. The rug was still warm to her touch.


	17. Black Cats

Chapter 17: Black Cats

"Stop trying. I'm not getting up Annie, not until I have a Diet Coke." Jamie grumbled from beneath her blankets on the floor. Annie stood above her, fully dressed in jeans and a dark blue sweater, frowning. "I'm not kidding, this chick isn't moving her butt anywhere without by Coke." Jamie stated like a holy testament.

"Jamie, you're out of Coke."

"I don't believe it, I can't be." Jamie said, as if uttering the impossible. Lizz came and stood next to Annie after going through Jamie's trunk in search of a stray can.

"If you'd saved a can we might have been able to replicate it or something, Stupid." Lizz said.

"Shut-up" was Jamie's sole reply. Lizz harrumphed, but then James walked up. Lizz turned to him with a smile.

"Hey James, can you help us?" she said.

"With what Lizz-beth?" James replied, walking over. He dropped an arm over Lizz's shoulders. The portal grated as it opened and they waved at Remus, who had just come through the portal. Remus's dark blue robes were splattered with mud from working in Hagrid's garden, but his smile was cheerful.

"Jamie refuses to move unless she has a Diet Coke!" Annie was exasperated, they were causing a scene. After all, she was sleeping on the floor in the middle of the common room at one in the afternoon. For crying out loud she was their prefect.

"Really?" Remus asked. He came and sat on his haunches next to Jamie.

"Really." Jamie's voice asserted from below. She yawned and snuggled deeper into the rug.

"Hey James, wouldn't Drenk be of some help?" Remus said, getting up and putting a hand on James's shoulder conspiratorially.

"Yah, except we'd have to bring her to him." James replied just as cryptically. In response, Jamie clutched the rug she sprawled across desperately and growled. Remus chuckled at the blonde.

"I'm assuming that's a negative. We could always bring him up here, but we'd have to clear the common room, you know how he is around crowds." Remus said, his eyes twinkling with the well known Marauder mischief.

"I'm thinking we implement the maneuver we finished last weekend." Sirius said suddenly, making Lizz and Annie jump in surprise at his sudden arrival. "It'd clear the room."

"A maneuver? If you mean a prank, you can't. Remember our little dare last night Potter?" Annie said smugly. James groaned as his day grew suddenly bleaker by the prospect of two whole prank-free weeks. Sirius patted him on the shoulder in mock sympathy.

"It's okay Jamesie, me and Moons can handle it." Sirius said. On the floor, Jamie was wondering if they just wanted to prank someone, or actually get her up off the floor. It didn't really matter; she was just being stubborn. If they left her alone for five minutes she'd get up on her own. But, hey, if she was going to get a free Coke out of this than she had no problem playing along, and she was really comfortable in her nest of blankets anyway. On the other hand, Moons?

"Ready Sirius?"

"Yep, on the count of three?"

"One, Two… Three!" Sirius and Remus's wands produced a noxious purple fog. It creeped along the floor and around the feet of students not behind the basic shield Annie and James rapidly created. The fog creeped up, amid alarmed yells and screams, wrapping it's victims in a purple sheath, and then all at once everything stopped. People were still yelling, but it seemed different to the ones unaffected by the prank. As the fog cleared, Annie laughed loudly to see the sixth year from last night trying to deal with the fact that he now had boobs and no bra. Jamie was snickering quietly under her blanket as she noticed the changes as well. Lizz just looked shocked. The Marauders, however, were just high, simply high off their mischief. Even Remus was smiling, even if "he really did disapprove" (though I think he just says that out of habit).

Yet, despite the horrendously terrible fact that each person was dealing with a sudden sex change, there still wasn't a mass exodus as had been planned. After everyone had stopped yelling things like "Merlin's beard" or "Umm, my pants feel a little tight", the guys to girls were being crude, the girls to boys were traveling in insecure packs, trying not to cause too much attention as they discarded bras they didn't need anymore. Several had gone screaming down the halls, but they were the fidgety quiet types and that was expected of them. Jamie was laughing harder, now haven given up all pretense of pretending to sleep, and James was turning red in anger at a "failed prank" that they had worked on all summer to complete.

Jamie finally gained control of herself and stood up, realizing on cue she should do something responsible right about now. Pulling her blanket regally around her like a queen, and clearing her throat, she shouted. "Excuse me; I would like to know who cast that spell, right now!" (in a voice eerily like McGonagall's).

"Well that's obvious isn't it? Those bloody idiots are always doing pranks like this!" A girl(?) squeaked indignantly. "Anyway, they're the only ones who didn't change!"

"Oh, is it possible that you're talking about my fellow prefect? Is it possible that someone who wasn't bloody stupid managed to put up a basic shield? And is it possible that the reason Lupin and myself are prefects is because we're not bloody stupid?" Jamie demanded, while staring the girl named Jake down. "Now all of you to the infirmary, see if you can get and anti-curse. MARCH!" she yelled.

"Seriously Jamie, you sound like your mom." Lizz said with a malicious smile. James, who still had his arm around her, tried to hid a laugh in his free hand.

"Shut it, I'm getting dressed and then I'm getting a Diet Coke, right?" James nodded quickly despite himself. "Thank you, dearie." The moment of quiet hung for a second in the air, but popped like a great silvery bubble. Jamie's motherly demeanor broke and they all laughed at the prank, even if it didn't cause as much distress as planned. Jamie slowly began climbing up the stairs to her dorm, still laughing. She paused and looked back down at the chuckling group for a long second. Remus looked up at that exact moment and their eyes met. His eyes, which were always so readable, looked up at her with simplistic joy, but some melancholic part of Jamie's heart told her that the joy easily seen before her was a rare sight in Remus Lupin. With a sweep, she turned back up the stairs, not willing to listen to the depressing voices in her head. She had been lending an ear to them too much lately.

She descended later in purple robes with silver embroidery and a low v-cut white ruffle shirt. A froth of even more white ruffles spilled from the sleeves. She smiled at the glances the Marauder's gave her strange period outfit, and smiled wider at Lizz's eyes rolling. She flipped her newly combed hair over her shoulder and asked, "So where's my Diet Coke?"

"We have to take you down to the kitchens and have you meet our friend Drenk." Remus said.

"Drenk?

"Just come on." Remus said, pulling her out of the portal. James smiled at Lizz and led her after them. Sirius, Annie, and Peter trailed behind, talking about pranks mechanics.

------))))))))

The house elf was relatively young, considering they lived up to two hundred years, and was very happy to help the masters and mistresses. Abnormally big blue eyes peered at them questioningly from beneath a large forehead bare of any hair. Jamie smiled down at the strangely shaped elf.

"Actually Drenk, can you please perform the trick you showed us last week?" Remus asked.

"Yes, Yes, if you would please bend down Master Lupin." Drenk replied, holding his hands out expectantly.

"No, Drenk it's actually Miss Bilden over here that needs it," Remus said, pulling her down with him to Drenk's height. Jamie looked confused and wary, her eyes darting between Remus and Drenk. "And could you please explain what it is you're going to do, so she stops looking at me so suspiciously." Remus continued, giving Jamie his little smile.

Jamie sneered and said, "I told you to call me Jamie."

"Okay, Jamie will you stop looking at me like-"

"Mistress Bilden what I do is make real what it is you desire, in terms of food or drink." Drenk said despite their arguing.

"Really?" Jamie said, turning back to Drenk. Behind her some of the other house elves were piling a side table with sweets and pumpkin juice.

"Yes, so if you could please sit very still and imagine what it is you want, I can make it real." Drenk replied. Jamie kneeled before the diminutive elf and closed her eyes. The elf placed his fingertips gently on her temples. Against her skin they felt cool and warm all at once. Jamie obediently thought of her Diet Coke, fizzing and cool with ice floating in it, fresh from the 7-11 (oh thank heaven!). She imagined the feel of the watery liquid going down her throat, tickling her stomach with its fizzy bubbles. She could almost taste it, the carmely, cold, and artificial tastes that made up her favorite drink.

Jamie yelped in surprise as a cold cup popped into her hands. The condensation of the 7-11 cup made her hands wet, but Jamie pulled the straw to her lips and, like a kiss, wrapped her lips around it. She sipped, she sipped again and she smiled blissfully. Remus chuckled at her antics.

"Thank you Drenk." She said simply, sucking on the straw again.

"Cool," Lizz said, walking over from the table where the kitchen elves had set up way too much food.

"Ahh, heaven in a cup." Jamie said too happily. Lizz snorted.

"I had missed the kind from the fountain." Jamie said.

"Mistress Bilden, if you wish I can make more." Drenk said.

"Really?"

"Yes, when would you want one?"

"Um, right when I wake up. Should I…" The elf merely nodded and went back to the long cutting tables with the other army of house elves. Jamie looked at Remus questioningly but he simply gave her the most ambiguous face he could muster.

----))))

'Dinner':

"Hey Jordan, come here and do something for me." Annie called, just outside the Dining Hall. The second year trotted over nervously, mainly because one of the popular American girls had just talked to him. "Now if you could please read this for me while I hold my wand right here."

"ATTENTION HOGWARTS STUDENTS. DUE TO UNNAMABLE AND HILARIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES, JAMES POTTER WILL BE UNABLE TO PRANK ANYONE FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS. CERTAIN PEOPLE SUGGEST YOU USE YOUR TIME WISELY." The hall was silent after the loud announcement from nowhere. Annie walked into the hall slowly, looking as surprised as the teachers at the head table. She walked all the way down to the bench and sat down right next to Jamie before exactly thirty seven different curses and hexes hit James.

He was rushed to the infirmary. He was followed by friends who had been also cursed (by people with bad aim). He was followed by friends that were laughing so hard their stomachs ached. Amid laughter, they had to deflect ten more curses on their way. When they finally reached the infirmary they had to take stomachache pills, and at least half the staff was present to help unwind the magic on Potter (who really didn't look human at the moment) and to delight in the payback taken upon the worst class clown in all of history, except maybe Sirius Black.

Annie's face was a touch flushed the whole time, maybe in fear of being caught, maybe just because it gave her an unexpected thrill. But she thought smugly to herself, as Professor Flitwick cursed for the third time, that taking acting classes did have a real world application.

Monday morning was bright and sunny, a rare last glimpse of summer before the British Isles succumbed to the long winter months. Jamie woke up late, with a sleepy smile, and was overjoyed to find a cold cup of Diet Coke waiting for her on her bedside table. Remus had woken up early and told Annie to let her sleep, saying he could take care of their prefect duties.

At breakfast, she and Remus both propped their books against milk jugs and read through their bacon and eggs.

"Good Morning Lupin, Bilden." Remus and Jamie smiled at their astronomy teacher, Prof. Knightly. The tall, salt and pepper haired amn turned to Remus specifically. "Mr. Lupin, would you do me a favor and come to my class a few minutes early, there's something I'd like to ask you."

"Oh, well if it's alright, I can come now. I've finished my breakfast."

"Wonderful!"

"I'll see you chaps later then, and I'll see you in class Bilden." Remus said and moved to get up.

"I said to call me Jamie." She said, turning hard to reprimand him. Remus's leg banged painfully against the bench and he almost lost his balance, but he caught himself by putting a hand on Jamie's back. He extracted himself from the table and with a wave, left. Jamie didn't wave back or watch him leave. Her heart was beating triple fast from the charged feeling of his hand on her back. The spot where he had simply touched her felt so warm from his touch that Jamie wanted to scratch it off. A blush was creeping up her neck. Feeling uncomfortable, she closed her book, said "later", and left the Dining Hall.

It really was unfair, she thought indignantly as she walked up the stairs to the Astronomy tower. Here she was, trying to be the faithful girlfriend, and she got this dizzy feeling just from one touch. Unknowingly, Mr. Remus Lupin had gone and sent a little shock through her that she didn't like at all, not one bit. Maybe it was because she wasn't being kissed, she definitely missed the kissing. Then again, she was easily distracted by good looking guys, or just men in general. Remus wasn't model handsome, but god he had that look that just made her heart skip a beat. Her heart, usually stone, or the appearance of it, was not so unstable.

She decided to put it out of mind, thinking about it would only be turning a mountain out a molehill. Besides, it was Remus, the quiet one, the nice one, the smart one, the funny one, not…

"I just wanted to make sure you knew, for whatever reason." Jamie heard Professor Knightly say from behind the door. She froze at the top of the landing, trying to calm her heavy breathing from the steep climb. There was a clink of china and a floorboard ceaked as someone crossed the room towards the door. She held her breath.

"Thanks, I do appreciate it. You'll be starting the lesson today?" Remus's voice replied from behind the heavy oak door.

"Yes. I..." Jamie didn't let herself hear anymore. She went back down about half a dozen steps and made a bunch of noise. She clopped loudly with her boots, and cursed the stairs for being so numerous.

"Bloody stairs! I mean really, gasp you'd think they'd make this a bit easier. Lord above!" She gasped again rather loudly.

"Miss Bilden you should watch your language." Professor Knightly said with a wink from his door. Jamie looked up at the professor and gave him a winning smile.

"Who me? Why, I don't have any idea what you are talking about!" Jamie said innocently. She walked past him into the room. Remus was sitting on the other end of Professor Knightly's desk, sipping a cup of tea quietly. He didn't look up as she came in.

"And how are the British stars Miss Bilden?" Professor Knightly asked, as he did every time she came into class since the first time they had done a midnight study.

"The most beautiful this Yankee girl has ever set her eyes on Professor." Jamie replied in turn. She looked at the chalkboard at the front of the class where Professor Knightly had drawn some diagrams of the moon in orbit and its phases. "Are we starting on the moon today?"

"Yes, before I teach you more about other planet's moons, I thought you should know more about ours."

"This is terrific, I love the moon!" Professor Knightly chuckled warmly at her enthusiasm.

"Really"

"Yah," Jamie paused a second, "I don't know why, but I always have. Whenever I'm stressed out or tired or emotional, I would look up at the moon and it would fill me with this calmness and strength. It was like it was filling me with moonlight, bright and soft and sharp all at once." She looked up at the ceiling as if she could see it hiding in the rafters, and her voice grew so quiet that they strained to hear her, "Sometimes I even talk to it, like it's a friend I haven't seen in forever. I just… just feel this familiarity with it." Jamie blinked, as if coming out of a daydream. "I'm sorry, I'm not making any sense." She coughed nervously in the awkward quiet.

"No, no," Professor Knightly assured her, stroking his goatee, "It made its own sense. Would you excuse me a moment?" He turned away and walked through the door that led into his quarters. Jamie smiled warmly at his retreating back, and turned to look at Remus.

His grey eyes were full of all the pain in the world. So much pain, there should be an open cut over his heart to show the world the depth of it. The pain and sorrow she saw brought her breathing to a trembling halt. Depths of pain and hurt she couldn't even and didn't want to fathom were there in his eyes, as if there was a hidden black hole she hadn't noticed. Remus smiled, and it hid the pain, but his eyes still brimmed with sadness. In her heart, part of Jamie wanted to run like hell, while another wanted to vanquish the source of his pain for him, and another wanted to simply hug him and tell him she was there.

Jamie walked over to Remus and hugged him tightly. He chuckled morosely in her ear. "What's this for?" he asked softly.

"For letting me sleep in today, Annie told me after you left, I forgot that we had prefect duties Monday morning." She lied.

"You're welcome." He whispered. He hugged her back for a second before she let go. They broke apart. It was silent, so quiet as they simply looked at each other, taking in everything, searching each other's faces, or just taking in one another. A bird chirped loudly and they began idly discussing who would take Patricia Wood's place as captain of the Quidditch team since she had transferred to Beauzbaton's.

Quite a few floors down James Potter was almost late to Care of Magical Creatures. He climbed down one of the turning staircases, turned and began down another one. "Mischief Managed." He whispered to the now blank parchment in his hands. He began carefully placing the parchment in his bag while stepping out onto a landing. He lifted his other foot, only to find that he had just stepped off the moving staircase onto thin air.

Paintings whistled past as he fell down the hall, missing all the other turning staircases that might have broken his fall, and for James Potter time slowed. He couldn't help but think it wasn't right that it was going to end like this, he still had so much to do. He would have used his four years of magical training to save himself, but his wand was back up on the staircase where he had dropped it in surprise. The stone floor was coming up to meet him quickly, this entire thing happening in matter of seconds.

Just before he kissed pavement, his body was lifted back up, like he'd reached the end of a bungee cord. The movement wasn't a smooth arc up though, he was spiraling dangerously, barely missing a stone outcrop by inches. Annie Martin slowly came into view, holding her wand out to him. As she drew him closer to her ledge, James could see her hands were shaking and there was sweat on her brow. She dropped him still a few feet up and he landed painfully on his knees.

Annie's wand dropped from her weak hand and she slumped to her knees. She was breathing hard and close to passing out. It had taken so much magic to lift him, and from so far away too! Bile rose in the back of her throat, and the edges of her visions where slowly blurring like a bad kaleidoscope. She was definitely going to pass out. She felt herself being drawn to another body. Strong arms wrapped around her, steadying her.

"Thank you." James's shaky voice said in her ear. Annie's vision slowly cleared and she pushed away from him. He held her hands though. She didn't protest. Her energy was returning as it should after a spell was concluded. She looked up shamefully at James, and not one to cause other people other trouble, she tried to stand. James had to help her.

"I'm sorry" She said miserably.

"Are you daft!" James boomed. "You saved my hide, and you're saying sorry!" he shook his head in disbelief.

"It was nothing, just a little energy consuming." Annie slowly picked up her wand and her bag, making to head for class. She didn't see the look James gave her, but then he grabbed her hand again.

"Are you really going to leave? Just like that, after saving my bloody life, like we're strangers or something?"

"I'll be late to Runes Potter." James grabbed her chin so she'd look him in the face. She'd been examining the floor and hiding an embarrassed blush, but now she was under his scrutiny it bloomed over her neck and chest as well. "Annie, thank you." She could see the scare the fall had given him, so strange in someone who was always confident in all he did. Annie nodded and looked away again. His large rough hands held her smaller paler ones for a moment longer, and his mouth opening and closing as if looking for words that refused to form. Finally he reached some decision within himself and released her.

"Hurry up, you'll be late to your class," he said with a condemning smile.

Annie began to walk away, but turned around before turning the corner and teasingly called out, "Am I still a hypocrite?" She saw his goofy smile, a match to the messy hair and askew glasses, and then continued onto Runes. She had to stop for breath more than once.

James stood still for a minute watching her leave. He shook his head and smiled again as he picked up his own bag. Really she was hopeless!

Annie and Lizz came in from their extra credit potions lab, to find Jamie crying silently on her bed. They tried to comfort her by hugging her and asking her what was wrong. At least she wasn't wailing but tears still ran down her red face.

"I… I don't deserve…" Jamie sniffled. Annie handed her a box of tissues.

"What? Don't deserve what?" Lizz demanded. She had become truly worried at the sight of tears.

"I don't deserve him, why doesn't he find himself a better girlfriend!" Jamie smiled at them through her tears and pointed to a basket they hadn't noticed in the corner, where a velvety black kitten was sleeping. "Look what that goober of a boyfriend sent me! Not to mention a seven page letter! God, he wrote me poems! Good poems! He never writes good poems!" Jamie laughed weakly.

"You do deserve him. He doesn't deserve you that's the problem." Annie said as she removed the Kleenex.

"You know, if you think he should find a better girlfriend, I'll always take him off your hands" Lizz said. Jamie punched her on the arm. Lizz just smiled and hugged her.

"Thanks." She said with a shaky smile. They smiled back in relief.

"God you scared us, we've never seen you cry." Lizz said. Annie got up off the bed and brought the black kitten over.

Jamie shrugged and wiped at her puffy red eyes. "As you can see, I'm not a pretty crier. Oh hello little tom." Jamie said, picking up the black kitten. "You're so pretty, but whatever shall we name you?"

A note; in the wizarding world, black cats aren't unlucky like the Muggle world. That's right, you guessed it. They're a prized breed because not only are they considered lucky, but are born with an innate intelligence and are supervious to most spells. The particular black cat that Ryan sent Jamie is a special Teleran breed that costs about a thousand dollars a head. Now, don't freak because Ryan gets about five thousand dollars a month as allowance (his parents don't want to spoil him). Jamie knows about the breed, but she doesn't want to mention it to her single friends.

"Oh, I know the perfect name. We'll call you Fitzwilliam Darcy, after our favorite prideful character." Jamie buried her sore eyes in the soft fur, and the cat purred happily.

"Now he's got like four hundred nicknames too." Annie said. "Brilliant name choice though, if unoriginal." Jamie smiled and shrugged, returning to Darcy.

"A girl and her cat" Lizz remarked, reaching out to stroke Darcy's ears. Darcy purred against all their hands, working his ultimate good looks to his advantage.

"So…. Poems?" Lizz said later on.

"Yah, and- ah Crivens! I almost forgot to tell you! He's coming here!"

"WHAT?" they said together.

"I know! Ryan is coming to and bringing our costumes for the Halloween Masquerade and staying until Christmas break, he's even gotten classes all figured out!"

"Seriously?" Annie said.

"Cross my heart and hope to die!" Jamie cried joyfully. "I can't wait till he gets here! I'll wring his neck for sending me so much stuff!" Darcy meowed loudly. "Oops, let's get you something to eat Darce, you must be hungry." Annie and Lizz teased their mercurial friend as accompanied her to the kitchens.

Lizz took in the look in Jamie's eyes as she shared one of Ryan's less embarrassing poems with them. She had never wanted a boyfriend so terribly bad as she did now. She wanted someone who could make her eyes shine like her friend's.

She remembered the surprise she had felt when James had dropped an arm on her shoulder, the feel of possession. Lizz smiled to herself, now what would Sirius think of her denying him for his best friend?


	18. When?

**Chapter 18: When?**

In a book about love languages, the author describes to the reader that each person shows and feels loved by their love language. One, for example, was affirmation. So the person would work a ton so that people would tell him/her she's doing a good job so they would feel loved. They would compliment people they loved, tell them they were good wonderful people and that's how they would say "I love you".

Jamie's love language was touch. Punching her friends on the arm or hugging them, maybe even just a little tap on the shoulder was her way of saying "I like you, I love you". As she walked the halls of Hogwarts, she would run her hands over carvings and the walls themselves. Memorizing the feel of the carpet or of the stone statues was her way of treasuring Hogwart's.

On this particular day, Thursday at around noon to be mores specific, she was in a hallway near the common room where she had found a large tapestry of the forbidden forest. Looking around her cautiously, she got closer to the tapestry and ran a finger along the shore of the deep blue lake. She swept a hand over deep green forests and grassy hills. Since it was a magical tapestry, a thread wind moved the leaves on the thousands of trees so they chattered loudly. Jamie wanted nothing more than to step into the tapestry and dance in the wind under a silver thread moon.

After a few minutes she regrettably broke away from the tapestry and continued down the deserted hall.

_What a month it's been, _she thought to herself suddenly_. I mean, here we are, freaking England! Who knew we'd actually ever get here. _She looked out a large paneled window,_ what a beautiful place! It's like a dream. A very, very familiar dream. _

Her footsteps echoed off the vaulted stone ceiling and she rested her back against a column. Slowly she slid down to the carpet, her legs splayed before her, and she looked up at the paintings flitting around on the ceiling. She remembered this room from the tour the Marauders gave them a few weeks back. The tour had dissipated from actually showing them anything to describing each other's countries and cultures.

_"No one likes Quidditch!" Sirius and James yelled in disbelief._

_"Not as much as Brinkly, but that's a touch more violent. Our own Quidditch team doesn't even put our name on their tent when they travel." Annie said, with a touch of distaste._

Then there was practically each week being remembered by a different undermining of the Marauders. For the first couple it had been Sirius with acne, then Jamie had thrown them out a window, and finally this past week James had been having prank withdrawals from the dare Annie had served him. Jamie had to say the current week was the funniest, though James tried not to show it.

Plus there was the strange occurrence of them being slightly popular, despite them being Yankees, and therefore usually hated in Britain. In California, they had never been sought, never. Here, it was like they had reached a higher ranking. Lizz had been hit on continuously, and had gotten asked out on more than once. But she really didn't notice since she was so infatuated with James. Poor Peter had been, in his way, trying to flirt with and impress her for the whole month. Most likely because she was too nice to push him off when he followed her everywhere. Annie, oh Annie had been left alone until recently. Now it was the Slytherin boys. For whatever reason they seemed to be in a contest to kiss her or something since Hogsmeade. However, after the Snivellus incident, she had been putting them off.

_But she'll weaken, I just hope she doesn't get too caught up with how debonair they all seem and get hurt_. Jamie was definitely worried for her inexperienced friend. Now that they were free from the superficial southern California, they found that they weren't as plain as they had originally thought. In fact, Jamie had found Lizz on the secret Hogwarts top ten hotties that she had bribed off that arrogant and ridiculously horny sixth year.

Maybe it wasn't so much that they were less plain or simply among a smaller amount of good-looking people. Maybe it was the fact that they more easily gave of the "datable" vibe or the fact that in California it was so hard to find people who didn't expect sex on the third date. Maybe it was because they hung out with some of the most popular guys in school. Still, the flattery they received was disturbing and intoxicating, not to mention annoying after week three.

However, Jamie had found herself to be labeled in several ways. On one side she was cold, while at the same time a flirt. She was, in a strange way, feared and desired, but had been given a "taken" label. At first she thought it was because she had begun telling guys she had a boyfriend (meaning Ryan) but instead found that many thought she was Remus's girl.

_Remus…_

_Remus is such a nice guy. Sure, it takes awhile to get him to open up but I've never had someone who was funnier or made me feel more comfortable when I'm around them. But he makes me feel… I dunno like he thinks our relationship means more. But that's probably just me and my old-fashioned romantic way of thinking, besides he knows! He knows I have Ryan, he knows I really am taken, and he knows… _

She knew when she saw him again all these thoughts would banish themselves. She would forget any misgivings they might have between them when he smiled.

But then there was a pain she had seen, there was a nickname, there was a warning about lessons on the moon, and there was a werewolf running around.

Jamie shut her eyes and buried her hands in her hair. She remembered that night so well. Looking at the werewolf with dark eyes, not afraid, not courageous, just staring. Lizz had been so pissed at her. There had been no time in the past month to wonder, besides to think it was their British guyfriends, who the other Animagi were. It had gone by so fast, yet each day Jamie had felt lonely had dragged on to a week's length. She was surrounded by friends, but she missed the companionship Ryan had offered.

Tears tugged at the corners of her eyes. _Not again! _She sniffed as if she could draw them back in. Why was she so crazy right now? Why did she feel so unstable, so insane?

She had to get out of here! She ran down the moving staircases, through the main hall and out the entrance. The grounds spread before her green and beautiful. Steering left, she booked it down the lake where an oak tree's branches hung over the water and its trunk stood only a yard from the shore.

With a cry she threw herself at the water and ran her hands feverishly through the water. Its icy coolness removed the feverish panic she had felt, especially when she ran her wet hands along her forehead.

Jamie walked over to the oak and climbed high up into it until it seemed her world was made of rustling leaves and shafts of blinding sunlight. Slowly, slowly she stopped feeling like she was torn between two different places. Her mind quieted and filled with the peace of the tree world she lay in. But the tears still came, running down her face in relief or horror, she really didn't know.

_What am I? Annie, who cries every month right before her period, just because that's how she deals with it? I don't cry so easily, practically never!_

She was so tired; she had never realized how much this had been catching up with her. And it was so much harder now that she lived with people her own age. It wouldn't matter if Ryan was here, he didn't know either. He would just tell her she was perfect and take her out to dinner.

No, maybe she needed her dad, he would hold her and beg her never to leave him, he would talk to her, and he would make her laugh.

"Jamie? Are you up there?" Remus's voice said, interrupting her peaceful world. She held her breath. "Jamieeeeee" Remus called.

"What do you want Remus." Her voice sounded surprisingly harsh and cold. What was she doing, spurning everyone because she was in a bad mood? Only silence came from below. He had probably left by now, he was so shy sometimes.

"What's wrong? You don't look good." A voice in her ear whispered. Jamie shrieked and almost flopped off her branch. Remus caught her with a laugh and secured her once again. She sneered at him, what right did he have to laugh when he was the one who had sneaked up on her like that?

"Oh come now, don't give me that look. Aren't you supposed to have some kind of fantabulous hearing?" He laughed as he leaned his broad shoulders against the rough tree trunk.

Jamie smiled wickedly, her sense of humor returning rapidly.

"Oh yes, just like I can hear your heart beating so very fast because of that little climb. You must lay off the bacon Remus, I mean, really." Remus frowned.

"How do you know that it's not beating from something else entirely?"

**When was it?**

**Was it the first week? The first day? The first moment?**

**When did your laugh make me smile?**

_Jamie ran down the staircase, and shoved her hair out of her eyes and thought about pulling her hair back for the millionth time. Halfway down the staircase, the stairs suddenly went flat and turned into a slide. Jamie slammed on her butt and sped down to an even more surprised Remus. They ended up in a heap on the floor with a resounding THUMP. Remus caught a scent, kind of like tangerines, that seemed very familiar. Jamie was sprawled on top of him and moaning softly, but Remus didn't move, no idiot (guy) would move when in certain positions..._

"_You okay?" he managed to say._

"_Yah, what the heck happened?" Jamie looked like she was blushing, but she always had red cheeks so it's hard to tell._

_Remus turned a little red himself and ran a hand through his dark brown hair, unnoticed by Jamie, who had untangled herself and was brushing off her robes._

"_I… Uh… well it's time for the prefect meeting and I remembered you didn't know your way around so I came to ask you if you wanted to come with me. But I was stupid enough to forget about the enchanted stairs that keep guys from going in the girls dormitories." Remus said quickly with a hung head. This wasn't going the way he had planned at all, and he was feeling pretty dumb._

"_Sorry Bilden." He handed her her bag, which had landed a couple feet away._

"_Call me Jamie, and it's cool. That was pretty fun anyway." Jamie laughed despite the bruise on her bum. Remus perked up at her smile. Jamie quieted as she put her bag over her shoulder again. She turned back to the now smiling Remus._

"_Will you escort me then, good Sir, to the prefect meeting that we are sure to be late to?" Jamie frowned at her watch. It was 2 minutes till the meeting started, they would definitely be late._

"_We won't be, I know a couple little shortcuts" Remus grinned as he took Jamie's arm and led her out of the common room._

**When did I want to be the one to make you laugh?**

"_Yeah, I accepted partly because it's my rule that if a guy can get me to laugh I owe him at least one date."_

"_So... how many do you owe me by now… hmm." Remus made a show of counting up how many times he had made her laugh while she laughed and begged him to stop. "You sound experienced." He finally said._

**When did I want to lay the world at your feet?**

**_"_**_Quite an excellent potion you've got going Remus. We'll have those dastardly Californians in our grip in no time." James chortled in a O'Connery type of accent. _

_"I think Remus would like to have a different kind of grip on one of those gels. Eh Remus?" Sirius said roguishly. _

_"You know Sirius if you don't shut your trap I'll shut it for you mate." Remus said, punching him on the shoulder._

_"Oh Ho! See I told you Prongs" Sirius said, elbowing James in the ribs, "you just mention the silly creature and he-" A little steel zipper appeared in front of Sirius's mouth and literally zipped his lip. Remus chuckled as Sirius made muffled angry sounds._

_"You really should listen to me for once." Remus said._

_"Hey you guys, SHHHH!" Peter said from a few yards ahead as they entered the portal. He pointed fearfully into the common room. "I think there's someone in there!" He whispered tersely. James walked quietly up behind Peter and peered into the large room. The fire was guttering away and only a few small licks of fire wrapped around the remaining ashes to light the room. At first he couldn't see anyone until Sirius pointed to the couch in front of the fire. They could see a slippered foot sticking out of the end of the couch. Besides that there was only a deep breathing, barely audible above the dying fire. _

_"I think it's okay," James whispered. "Whoever it is must be asleep."_

_"As I want to be, let's just go okay?" Sirius said, having finally wrestled the zipper open on his mouth. They nodded in agreement and quietly crossed the common room to their dorm stairs. Remus lagged behind however, and watched Peter begin up the stairs in front of him before turning around. Swiftly and quietly he crossed back across the room to the couch and peered down._

_He laughed under his breath as he saw she had a book clutched in her hands even in sleep. Remus knelt down beside her and gently plucked the book from her hands. Breath held, he waited for her to wake up, but she only stuck one of her free hands into her blonde hair. _

_"Water Nymphs?" Remus chuckled as he read the title of her book, "What interest do you have in them?" Jamie moaned softly, almost like a cat's meow, and rolled over towards him. _

_Slowly her eyes fluttered open and she groaned. _

_"Hello sleeping beauty." Remus said softly. Jamie smiled blearily and hit him on the shoulder. _

_"There's nothing beautiful about my sleeping, go put your glasses on." She sat up and stretched. _

_"Oh come now, you look so vulnerable it's cute."_

_"You're just trying to goad me. You of all people know I have no love for all things cute."_

_"Fine then. You looked lovely." He responded and held out a hand to help her up. Jamie, still half asleep, smiled beatifically._

_"You sir, flatter me too much. I am not-"_

_"But of course you are! I am a deviously honest young man trying to tell a lovely young lady what she is. Is there so much wrong in that?" By now they had reached the stairs to her dorm. Jamie couldn't remember ever having gotten up, or having put her arm in his and leaning against him like a drunk._

_"Remus, you and I both know that I'm an aggressive, over controlling, stubborn, loud harpy." Jamie said, turning to him. "I've thrown you out windows, stolen half your books, yelled at you, teased you, and been an all around ton of trouble to everyone around me." She grinned at Remus as if she was daring him to contradict her. _

_"Ah, but I see all these things and still see the lovely woman you are despite them so stop calling yourself a harpy." Remus lifted her hand close to his face, "You deserve to be pampered and loved for the rest of your days .Not to mention be treated like a princess for who you are, not for who you aren't Madamoiselle." Remus bent low and gallantly kissed her hand. Jamie giggled, putting on a mock face of pleased astonishment._

_"Sir, how dare thee kiss a lady's hand without warrant!" Remus smiled devilishly, almost taking Jamie by surprise, and bowed low before her. _

_"Ah, but I would argue that I had complete right to kiss the hand of so lovely a lady!" He said, raising his eyebrows. Jamie merely shook her head, dropping their play. She would not admit to herself that he was making her uncomfortable so she smiled and told him good night. _

_"The things you say sometimes Remus, I'm glad it's dark or you could see me blush. Flattery goes straight to my head!" She turned around and began up her stairs. "Good Night Remus, thanks for making me laugh once again."_

_"Anytime my lady." Jamie smiled and continued up the stairs._

_"Anytime" he whispered after her._

**When did I love the way my name sounded on your lips?**

"_Bilden, you okay?"_

"_Yah, thanx" Jamie said, caught off guard by the use of her surname._

"_You certainly were carrying a lot of books, how many classes do you take?" He began to pluck the books out of the air as he talked._

"_Oh! These aren't for classes I'm reading them for fun! Good thing you came along that librarian looked like she would rip me apart if I hurt the books. God knows I do the same when someone does anything to mine, so I guess I shouldn't really judge." Jamie said, also grabbing her things and flashing Remus another smile as he helped her. Jamie noticed the large pile of books in his hands and bit her lip._

"_I… Uh really like to read"_

"_More like an addiction." said Lizzy popping up beside Jamie and grabbed some of her stuff to help carry, as did Annie._

"_Annie reads a lot too!"_

"_Yes, but not for six hours straight before I do my homework like you." Annie replied._

"_Really?" said a grinning Remus. "Well if you're going to be carrying around all these books maybe I can help."_

_He pointed his wand at Jamie's bag and it immediately sowed itself back up and glowed with a blue light for a couple seconds. He placed the books he had collected in it and handed it to her._

"_Now it won't break until you put two tons in it" he wore the tiniest of smiles._

"_Cool, where did you pick up that spell?" An astonished and delighted Jamie examined her bag._

"_After the sixth time my bag broke I figured there had to be a better solution. So I found the Two Ton Charm."_

"_Well thanks aga—Oh we forgot about Charms! Uh… Remus, I mean Lupin, would you mind showing us the way to Charms?"_

**When did I want to hold you close and tell you I'd be there?**

"_I may be a mudblood, but it's better than be some ass-kissing Voldemort cronie, who's not worth the gum stuck to my shoe!" Jamie spat at him. She left him huddled on the ground, holding his broken nose, and walked out. Remus left Snape to crawl into some corner and lifted Kelli. He managed to get her to the hospital wing and run back to the Gryffindor common room to look for Jamie. He asked around for her but Annie and James agreed she had not been seen since she had left with him. _

_Remus finally ran out the large front doors onto the moonlit grounds. He didn't see her but his shoes sunk in mud that was the result of the rainy afternoon. He looked at the mud at his feet and finally noticed another, smaller pair of prints beside his own. _

"_Lumos"_

_He carefully followed the path she had left down to the lake, letting his eyes adjust to the soft light emanating from his wand._

_Jamie was very close, he swore he sense her, or smell her orangey scent as he stopped beneath a large oak on the lakeshore._

"_Jamie, come down." Remus turned to look up at the girl sitting on a large lower branch. She had a glazed over look in her eyes and was staring at the half moon, until he startled her with his request. "Jamie." Remus crossed his arms and gave her a stern look. She almost laughed; He looks just like Dad, 'oh crap now I'm homesick, good going Jamie'._

"_No I'll stay up here thanx." She said and looked back the glittering lake. Remus frowned and in a wink had swung himself up and had situated himself in front of her. He looked into her shining blue eyes and gently put a hand on her shoulder._

"_Tell me about it." He said kindly._

"_It's nothing really." Jamie shook her head and chuckled softly. "I don't even know why I'm upset, it's silly."_

"_It's not silly I don't want to see you upset. Please tell me about it… was it because he called you a mudblood? Because-"_

"_No! I mean I hate that. But I got a lot of that in California though so it usually doesn't bother me. Plus I honestly don't give a damn what some ass-kisser like him thinks of me." She laughed gently. "It just he said he… heard of me, like he had already decided what kind of person I was from rumors! I was already angry at what he was trying to do to that other prefect and it just fired my blood, I got so pissed and all I wanted to do was wipe that sick grin off his face!" Remus squeezed her shoulder and Jamie sighed. "So I clocked him, then I got upset cuz I had lost control and I let him know he got to me and I hate that!"_

"_Hey at least he got what he deserved, and if you hadn't done it, I would've. Plus now he knows to never bug you again."_

"_Still…" Jamie hugged her knees and sighed._

**When did I want to tell you everything?**

_She glanced over at Remus and was surprised to find him tense and she tried to make eye contact. He closed his eyes and looked up at her. Her blue eyes were sporting purple streaks, but they were worried and her lips formed a small comforting smile as he looked at her. She saw his brows were furrowed but beneath them his gray eyes swirled anxiously. She found herself thinking how much his eyes resembled clouds before a storm, as if a downpour might come any second. _

"_What's wrong Remus?" he loved the way his name sounded. "Siriusly, Remus tell me about it." She gave him a warm smile. Remus found himself smiling despite his bitter mood. _

"_Oh nothing, I just remembered I had a Quidditch practice tomorrow and I wanted to sleep in." Remus said lightly. He smiled and continued down the hallway. Jamie smiled despite herself, Yeah right, she thought. She hummed off-key a little bit then said,_

"_Whenever you want to tell me about it you'll find I'm a really good listener." He stopped dead. She grinned impishly and hummed and continued down the hallway. She stopped and chatted with a portrait of someone or another, then Remus smiled and caught up._

**When did I want you say it was going to be okay?**

_"So what else is there to see?"_

_"The world; that should satisfy you for the rest of the day."_

_"If we start in Venice, we certainly could at least get through Europe by four." Jamie replied, laughing._

_"Certainly, but if you were referring to Hogsmeade, there's only Rosmerta's left I believe."_

_"Oh, and the Shrieking Shack, I've heard every horrible thing about the place, we have to see it."_

_Not nearly as horrible as what I could tell you, Remus thought poisonously. "Uh," he cleared his throat, "Let's get a butterbeer first, my arms are definitely going numb." _

**When was it?**

**When was I afraid of the feelings your smile gave me?**

"_Here we go," Remus set two steaming mugs and a plate down on the table and taking a seat himself. "Be careful, it's hot." Jamie nodded and carefully sipped the amber liquid then grinned._

_"Ohh, it's good! It's just right" She sipped again and smiled blissfully at him as it warmed her up from the inside out. Remus laughed out loud._

_"I think I'd love to re-experience everything with you, you're like a child." Remus faltered, "I mean in a good way, like optimistic, er I mean," Jamie waved it off._

_"I know what you mean. I'm not optimistic, I just find everything hilarious. Plus I've always figured that showing my reactions would make sure I still had reactions, if you know what I mean, like things will never be bland because I'll… well it's like… Wow, this is hard to explain!" Jamie said, running a hand through her tousled hair, "It kinda goes back to staying young on the inside, I try to look at everything with the eyes of a child, and I think a lot of it stems from reading. Because you have to pay attention to a book, tune in to the underlying tones, and really let yourself drop into it, it gives me this hyper attention to everything." Jamie grinned mischievously, "Like the fact that you were blushing when you came back with the drinks, maybe a casual observer wouldn't have noticed, but I did." She noted with a hint of pride._

_Remus scratched the back of his neck, which was also turning red, "It's just warm in here."_

_"That's a bunch of crap."_

_"I can't believe we bought so many books." Remus said, changing the subject. How would he explain that Rosmerta had been teasing him about being on a date with her?_

**When did I cease to care about the consequences?**

_"How do you know that it's not beating from something else entirely?"_

**When was it?**

**When did I begin to love you?**

**Was it the first week? The first day? The first moment?**

"_So what are your lovely names?" I asked._

"_I'm Jamie Bilden, which you should know already." _

**You said and smiled at me. I may not have known it at the time but now I realize how dear you are to my heart come hell or high water.**

Jamie pretended not to have heard. She was too emotionally strung out to care or wonder what he meant by it. Remus looked at her strangely.

"What?" she asked eventually, uncomfortable

"Nothing, I was just thinking. Are you alright though? It looks like you've been crying." He sounded so worried, it almost made her cry again. But instead her brain scrambled for an answer.

"Oh, I was crying, um happily, because…" Jamie paused. "…Because Ryan's coming!"

"What!" Remus yelled savagely. "To Hogwarts? Bu-" Remus stopped as he realized his heart was pounding rapidly. Too fast, like he was about to-!

"Yes, from Halloween to Christmas." Jamie continued. She looked at him worriedly. "Remus, are you-?"

"I'm fine!" He said angrily. His voice was off and raspy. Jamie resisted the urge to scoot away from him, so angry! She was afraid.

Remus ran his hands across his forehead, but it did no good. He could feel it like fire running through his veins. He put a hand over his mouth as if to check for a muzzle, to feel the fur sprouting from his fingers. "No! No! No!" He howled and leapt from the tree.

"Remus!" Jamie shouted in worry and fear from above, but he didn't stop. He ran and ran like he could escape from the disease in his body. Tripping and stumbling drunkenly, he cut his lip on newly pointed teeth. Across the grounds until he came to the entrance, entrance to his own personal hell. With a desperate dry he threw himself down the hole, slipping on dead leaves and dirt.

A groan escaped his lips as he ran up through a dusty basement and finally threw himself down in the bedroom. The furniture and the room around them was covered with claw marks he could barely remember making. Though he wanted nothing better than to collapse, he stood up and began hurriedly removing his robes until he was only in shirt and boxers.

Remus, unchanged, fell to his knees. They made a hollow thud in the empty house. He was panting hard but his changes slowly receded. His teeth lost their points and his hands no longer sprouted fur, though Remus could still feel it inside him like his human skin was an ill-fitting suit that would soon tear.

Breathing heavily, he got back up but made no move to put his clothes back on since he didn't have any extras with him if they ripped. Remus walked to the bed and pulled away the shredded hangings. He sat on the edge of the mattress and buried his face in his hands.

Remus sobbed. In this room, he sobbed loudly and all the while wished there was someone there to hear them, but there only an empty shack that echoed them back emptily to him. Angrily, with tears still in his eyes, he stood up and threw a chair against the wall. Then a table and a lamp, some drawers and the piano stool. It wasn't until he cut his lip again that he subsided and curled up on the creaky bed, waiting until the moon rose and he completely changed.

He could still feel his hate and anger ripping away at him inside, but he was too afraid to let them out even though that made his hate and anger even greater.

**When did I decide that I had to have you for my own and I ceased to care about the risks. You had to love me… because I loved you so much it hurt.**

**When was it?**


	19. Tears

**Chapter 19: Tears**

Saturday had developed its own schedule between the Marauders and Californians. It was simple and nonsensical but they all looked forward to it in their own ways. It always started by Jamie and Remus meeting at the portal around nine and going off on prefect duty. Jamie would wave goodbye to Annie, who was writing or working next to the fire. A few minutes later James would join Annie at the fire, sometimes with his broom and polish or homework or nothing at all, and they would talk till late. Lizz enjoyed running all over the grounds on Saturdays, skirting the Forbidden Forest and maybe doing a lap around the lake. However, she was always chased by the big black dog, who never succeeded in catching her. At first, Peter had ridden along with Sirius, but had fallen into being tutored by the same Hufflepuff Judy who followed Vivian everywhere. Everyone usually met back in the common room around eleven and either played a game of gobstones or went to bed.

This Saturday Jamie was severely antsy as she waited hopefully for Remus. She couldn't help hoping to see him more so than usual. Hell, she hadn't since a few days ago when he had something like a seizure and run away from her in the oak tree. It had left her puzzled and angry and sad. So she had taken a long bath and read a book but it hadn't salved the seed of worry that was deeply rooting in her mind.

Definitely something wrong, definitely, he was never late and it was fifteen past. Realizing she was wringing her hands, Jamie put them in her pockets. When she saw James sitting down with Annie, she decided it was better if she just started off on duty on her own. James wouldn't be of any help in her quest to locate Remus, he'd just give her another evasive answer like before.

Jamie lit her wand and pattered quickly down the rotating staircases. Her footsteps sounded familiarly strange as they reverberated in the empty hallway. As she walked hurriedly, her mind was whirled with many theories and worries that tumbled over one another, bumping into each other and colliding into a sickening collection of fearful, distressing thought. Jamie turned left automatically at the bottom of the staircase and walked swiftly down the second corridor to the right. She didn't know it, but despite her imagination going rotten within, outside she looked fearfully determined.

Paintings watched sleepily as she strode past, but she didn't greet them like she usually did. Turning a corner, she bumped fully into another person and fell back flat on the floor. Stars danced mad circles around her head as she sat up painfully.

"That definitely hurt." She groaned.

"Sorry" said the other girl as they helped each other up.

"No it's fine Kelli; I can't deny part of the blame for knocking us both senseless!" Jamie laughed good-naturedly and smiled at Kelli, the girl she had saved a few weeks earlier. Kelli gave her a dazzling smile back. Jamie looked at her more closely, suddenly realizing she was much prettier than she had first noticed. Maybe it was because she was unconsciously dangling from the ceiling the first time she had gotten a good look at her.

"What?" Kelli asked as Jamie stared at her.

"Oh nothing. You're very pretty, did you know that?" Kelli rolled her eyes.

"Am not." She said. Jamie laughed again.

"You are, but if you can't realize that no one else will." She said sagely.

Kelli shrugged.

"Well, I'd better be going" Jamie began, "I'm trying to find my fellow prefect to go on duty… What?" She said as Kelli shook her head. Kelli glanced at her in slight disbelief and shifted uncomfortably.

"Didn't you hear? Remus got hurt and is in the hospital wing!" she said without reserve.

"Who told you that?" Jamie shot back in a whisper.

"James Potter."

"I thought so." Jamie said, now rolling her eyes. "I just don't believe it."

"Why not?" Kelli asked. _Why not indeed?_ Jamie thought. Probably because she didn't think that Remus just got hurt. Because she was an observer and there were enough nervous glances and hidden frowns to make her think otherwise, that's why. Jamie didn't say any of this though, she simply shrugged her shoulders. Kelli frowned.

"But aren't you two dating? I mean shouldn't you know-" she began.

"We're not dating," Jamie interrupted. "We're friends." Kelli gave her a weird look. "I'm serious! Look I have a picture of my boyfriend in California right here!" Jamie whipped out a little photo of Ryan he had given her last Christmas.

"Ooo, he's a cutie. Just look at those eyes!" Kelli shrieked, snatching the picture from her hands. After a moment she handed it back with a satisfied nod. "Okay I believe you, but jeeze you and Remus just seem so tight."

"Like I said, friends"

"Yah… but there's like a… a tension between you too." Kelli said hesitantly. Jamie arched her brows, Kelli shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I can't explain any other way; unless a person knew you two personally they'd think that you're dating." Jamie merely frowned and continued down the hallway. Kelli followed and they did the prefect rounds that Jamie and Remus usually did. Jamie decided not to ask about what had happened to Snape.

Kelli waved goodbye to Jamie as she headed down to the dungeons a few hours later after exchanging personal histories and candy. Jamie smiled, waved, and ran down the corridor they had just come down. A few minutes later she sniffed the air with a long furry nose. She risked being seen, but she couldn't ignore the smell that ran headily through the air.

Jamie's paws padded softly on the stones as she trotted towards the hospital wing. Her fears were confirmed and reconfirmed with each sniff.

Each person has their own unique smell. It, like names, always seems to fit the person perfectly in a way you can't really describe. Hobbies, deodorant, shampoo, and occupational smells contribute to the overall smell, but there is always that intrinsic smell that comes from their very being. This part flows in their very blood, it's the smell they sweat, and it's the taste of their lips when you kiss them.

Jamie had made a habit of getting a good catalogue of what each person smelled like. To her, it was part of who they were just as much as their hair color or height, and helped her tremendously when she was in this form. Remus's scent wasn't too hard to call to mind, but when she could smell it so thickly in the air along with the maddening metallic smell of blood, she tended to worried. She sniffed again and was sure this time that the smell of blood was definitely Remus's. The heady path of scent ended in a room around the corner from the hospital wing. Jamie closed her eyes tightly and quickly made the change back to two legs.

The door loomed in front of her in such an ominous way that made her determination take an express flight for Fiji. At first she reached for the handle, but her hand shook so bad she pulled back. Looking behind her, she saw the moon shining through a large glass window. Slowly she went up to it and let the moon bathe her in its healing light through the pentagon-shaped panels that made up the window. After a few deep breaths, although it didn't completely salve the bone-deep weariness, she went to the door and turned the handle.

Back in the common room, Annie was becoming confused. James certainly had that effect sometimes.

"Are you ever jealous that Jamie got picked to be a prefect and not you?" James asked.

"Sometimes," Annie answered honestly, "But not really. I mean she has to do duty and not misbehave, though that doesn't stop her."

"I think it's brilliant that Remus and Jamie get so much time alone together, don't you think?" James said with a wink. Annie just stared at him. "You know… to get to know each other better, so to speak…" Annie just gave him another blank look. James dropped his voice to a conspiracy level, "You know, since Remus totally has the hots for Jamie?"

At that Annie gasped. She couldn't help it. Then she shook her head in disagreement because it was all she could think to do.

"But she has Ryan and he's coming for Halloween!" Annie blurted out. "He'll stay at least until Christmas break, didn't you know? Besides are you sure Remus likes her that much?" She said, purposely evading the phrase Potter had used.

"Yes, He told me himself. I don't think he can help it." James said, shrugging his shoulders hopelessly. "What a romantic."

"There's nothing romantic about cheating." Annie retorted sullenly, unable to help being on Ryan's side. James frowned angrily, his brows quickly knitting together. "Plus," She added, ignoring his scowl, "Jamie doesn't like him like that. She would have told me and Lizz of the least bit of admiration for Remus. Besides-"

"Besides what, you think that'll stop Remus?" James almost snapped back. "I'll admit I didn't know about Ryan coming, but Remus truly likes, dare I say it, loves Jamie. What's he supposed to do, just stop?" Annie shook her head in shock. It took her awhile, but she found the voice to continue on.

"It doesn't make it right Potter, Ryan loves her and I'm pretty darn sure she loves him back!" She almost shrieked. They glared angrily at each other.

"You're right," James said heatedly. He looked away from her and leaned back and tousled his black hair. Annie looked away too. Her shoulders relaxed their anger and she leaned back in her chair. James took a long look at her. "I'm sorry, I just feel frustrated cus' one of my best mates is chasing the moon. And maybe the worst part of it is that he knows it."

Annie laughed lightly. "When did you get all poetic on me?" she said, trying to lighten the mood. They were quiet, both gazing at the fire.

"Will you do something for me Annie?" he said suddenly after a long silence, looking at her intently. Annie smiled.

"As long as it isn't malevolent. As long it is right and causes no one harm."

James chuckled at that. "Yes I can tell that the very second that I asked you to do anything malevolent you would become impossible. 'That's not right, Potter, I would never do such a thing!" he imitated in a falsetto. A good-natured sigh escaped Annie's lips; she wished he'd get on with it.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Will you be there for me when I finally decide to ask someone out? I've never done it you know." He replied, and turned his hazel eyes down to his clasped hands. "I would need a girl to comfort me when all my insecurities come flooding back to me the very moment before I do the deed, so to speak."

"Insecurities?" she replied in disbelief.

"Oh I have many you know." James said tragically, sighing for emphasis. Annie smiled helplessly. James never had had an insecurity. He wouldn't even know what one looked like. That was one of the reasons she enjoyed his company so much. It didn't matter much what people thought of him, he was just fine and happy with who he was and what he did. Confidence poured from every move he made, every smile, every joke, and it made her feel more comfortable with herself as well. _But why is he bringing up asking someone out with me? Half the time I'm telling him what he does is immoral or ridiculous, so why the sudden open-heart discussion? Is he trying to angle at something? I really need to repaint my nails. _Annie kept her face impassive despite her confusement.

"Um, I'm sure whoever you ask out will be able to overlook your many faults Potter." She replied, half-jokingly. James looked at her closely. _God! Why is he looking at me like that?_ He smiled. _Wait, is he going to ask me out!_ Annie shook her head mentally, trying to sweep her silly thoughts away.

"That's good then. I have nothing to fear, especially if she is already ignorant to them." He said contentedly and leaned back in the big armchair. _Does he mean me? I already scoffed at his "insecurities", is he trying to say something? What if he did ask me out? ... I guess I might say yes. Yes, I think I would definitely say yes._ Annie looked at James Potter more closely. His black hair laid in tufts like ruffled feathers, in a good way. Despite his so geeky they're trendy glasses, Annie good see his green-hazel eyes snapping in eternal amusement behind them. His smile was quick and even, yet despite all this, including a good body, he wasn't handsome. Not in a look-at-me sort of way anyway. He had the kind of handsome that you slowly noticed, and his self-assuredness, in a way, made it so it didn't matter._ He is funny and kind of handsome after all, not dark and magnificent like Lucius, but he'd please my parents anyway. Annie thought._

"What are you looking at?" Potter shot at her, looking at her curiously from behind his spectacles. Annie was sure she flushed red. James laughed, "Do you find me handsome Annie?" he asked.

"No." she answered half-truthfully.

"No!" James roared with mirth. "What's wrong with me that I get an outright no?"

"I'm sorry Potter, let me rephrase my answer. I simply meant that you're not like a model handsome, just the everyday kind." Annie scurried to say.

"Sure, sure, just trying to make me feel better that's all you're doing Annie." He retorted. He held up a hand to stop her assurances. "No, no, I'm sure you're right. I suppose it's my glasses isn't it? Here look at me now." He said and whipped off his glasses.

Annie tried not to gasp. It really did make a difference. Now he looked roguish and devilish and all sorts of other cunning –ish's. James Potter was just one of those guys, like Sirius, that could make baby pink look debonair. She merely smiled. _I really hope he asks me out now._ She couldn't help but think before looking away in hopes he couldn't read her thoughts.

"See, there I can see you're just trying to not laugh at me. Spare me the critical female eye!" He trumpeted morosely.

"I will comfort you Potter." Annie said. He arched a black eyebrow at her. "You know, before you ask a girl out for the first time.

"Really?" he said. She nodded positively. "Good because that time is right about now!" Annie started in surprise. Now! Her mind raced and she tried to compose herself accordingly. "I'm sure you know who it is I'm going to ask." James said, watching her face carefully for some kind of reaction, but she gave none. "She's a great girl, full of life and spirit. I can't help but be completely ensnared by her charm." _Is he really saying all this? Goodness… charm?_ "You know who I'm talking about?"

"I think so." Annie commented primly, unable to keep a smile off her face. James smiled too. "But why don't you go ahead and name her?" she continued.

"Lizz is such a great girl, don't you think? Annie?... Are you okay?"

Jsakfnkdlcmva;lkdml;,adlvl;ml;(((((DIVIDER))))))skdmafanhiunlfnmbsmcmls

_Okay, the handle is turned, that's a good start. Come on Jamie, all you have to do is push the door. Stupid door, why can't you just swing open like the other big creepy doors do in movies? You're a freaking misfit!_ Jamie realized she was getting a little hysterical with fear.

At first she tried to gently push the door open, but, finding that its hinges weren't oiled so well, ended up shoving against it abruptly. It creaked open loudly and shut just as noisily. All the while, Jamie had managed to not open her eyes yet.

Although once she did, she truly wanted nothing better than to close them again, but by now her body wasn't obeying her. All she could do was continue to look on in horror.

He lay, or more so, sprawled, across the narrow hospital cot that had been set up for him. Jamie could see one of his legs poking out from under the sheets as well as most of his chest. But the cause for her horror was not his state of undress, but the many lines of scars that marked the skin she could see. Many of the cuts were old and a healed light pink, but there were also fresh bloody cuts marring his skin. Claw marks to be precise. Large vicious claws had gouged deep into his chest, leaving huge rips in his shoulders and sides. If it were not for his chest painfully moving up and down, she would been absolutely convinced he was dead.

Despite the utter fear and shock that clenched her stomach, some little part of her mind urged her to see it all. Carefully, she creeped forward to beside the bed. Her legs moved almost of their own volition. From here, she could see more scratches on his face and neck. And His breath came in painful wheezes as if it were a struggle to get a lungful of air.

At that moment, Jamie wanted to run. She wanted to run far, far away. She wanted to run somewhere bright and happy where her mom would tell her all of this was some kind of nightmare and this kind of sickly darkness didn't actually exist in the world. She wanted this and she hated herself for it. For now she had to face the truth. Remus was the werewolf.

Remus, the werewolf? No, no it couldn't be. Not her Remus, not her Remus. Please god, anyone, anyone but good Remus. No, no NO! Another voice in her mind screamed to itself. But it was true and it hurt.

Jamie tried to gulp back the tears that climbed her throat. But how could she? Looking down at the self-mutilated form of Remus, she couldn't fight them, it was simply too much to ask of her.

Suddenly losing the strength to stand, she fell to her knees beside the bed and began to silently cry into her hands.

"J-ja-" She looked up in alarm as Remus tried to say her name. His bloodshot eyes were cracked open just enough for her to see his stormy gray irises. With a cry she flung herself around his neck and sobbed even louder.

She did and didn't hope he could tell she was crying for him and him alone. For he had to carry so much pain in silence. Now and in the future he would never be trusted, accepted, welcomed, not even simply left alone. Most likely he would be chased from towns and society altogether. Despised, hated, and loathed simply because he grew fur once a month. Here he was; this smart, funny, passionate guy who would simply be hated for his blood type. It wasn't fair, he deserved better, and for this, she cried.

Remus weakly held her close. It would probably lead to his own destruction, it might only cause more pain later, but he let himself love her for a moment. And he was strangely glad she wasn't a pretty crier. But darkness came to claim him once again and he let it take him without a fight, comforted in the fact that someone cried for him. That was good enough.

Jamie felt him collapse in her embrace and worriedly checked his pulse. It pumped strongly, he was just exhausted. Tears still ran down her face unchecked, falling onto the pillow beside his face, but Jamie knew she had to leave before she was caught here.

As she walked to the door, rubbing her eyes to clear them of tears, she looked back at Remus once again. She saw the scars, she noticed the pus and blood, she looked at his face. There she saw the peace and determination that gave him the strength and means to carry on, and she let it bolster her spirit as well.

More tears began to pull at her eyes so she made a quick escape. At first she walked quickly, then faster. She broke into a jog and before she knew it, she was running down the hallways, leaping up the stairs and crashing around corners. She felt so cold, so very cold. She might as well have fallen into a black hole. Everything sound seemed muffled, as if there were cotton balls in her ears. She felt numb and hollow and kept running.

"Annie are you okay?" James repeated again.

"Yes. Why do you ask?" Annie replied in a soft voice. She looked completely unperturbed by the fact that Potter had just declared his liking of one of her best friends.

"Um, no reason." James said, feeling foolish. There was silence between them as James watched Annie watching the fire. Luckily, Jamie came crashing the portal a moment later, breathless and covered in what looked like…

"My god, what happened?" James said, leaping up.

"What do you mean!" Jamie said loudly. James winced.

"Well besides the fact that you have blood all over your shirt and you're as pale as a ghost, you look like you've been running." Annie said as she joined them.

"Me and Kelli found some guys that were in a fight and had to help one of them to the infirmary. They're okay but it was a bit gory so I ran back here to change because this mess is starting to smell." Jamie replied quickly, keeping her eyes off her clothes. Annie put an arm around Jamie's shoulder, but Jamie squirmed away. Annie looked hurt but Jamie wasn't looking at her, she was bee-lining it for the stairs to their dorm. James tried to follow her, but Annie held him back and shook her head when he looked at her in question. Jamie disappeared up the stairs and a few minutes later Lizz came down in her pj's.

"Oh my God, Jamie's throwing up!" She squeaked.

"What?" James and Annie said in unison.

"Yah, she came in all covered in blood, took one look at herself in the mirror, and ran for the toilet! I tried to ask her what happened but she wouldn't talk to me!" Lizzy exclaimed, truly frazzled. James pulled her into a comforting embrace. Annie looked away in embarrassment. A few minutes earlier she had foolishly thought that was going to be her!

"It's okay Lizz, she just had to get some guys out of a bloody fight and ended up taking them to the infirmary." James said. Lizz broke the hug, her cheeks flushed a brilliant pink. She ran a land through her chestnut hair and tried not to look at Annie. Lizz was glad Jamie wasn't here for once. She would've been making a visible effort not to laugh or maybe raising her eyebrows suggestively, making Lizz even more embarrassed.

"By the way Lizz, there was something I wanted to-" James tried to say.

"Damn it!" Sirius bellowed, quickly joining their group. James frowned in irritation. "Damn it, Damn it!" he said again.

"Something the matter Sirius?" Lizz asked in a sarcastically sweet voice.

"Yes, er-" Sirius stammered after suddenly realizing that mentioning he had been unsuccessfully chasing a lioness around the school grounds for the past two hours wasn't the best idea. "I, stubbed my toe on the stairs." He finished lamely. Lizz arched a critical eyebrow at him. "It hurts okay!" Sirius said defensively.

Lizz merely shrugged her shoulders. Sirius ground his teeth in frustration.

"I'm sorry that I don't live up toward your standards, _milady. _I'm not perfect." Sirius said sarcastically.

"Duh. You aren't any kind of Prince Charming." Lizz said. How could she be so infuriating! She made him want to slap her and beg her to accept him the way he was all at the same time! What was it with her!

"Is that what you're waiting for? Prince Charming? How ridiculous to be waiting for perfection! I almost pity you." Sirius snapped. Lizz gasped and gave him a truly hurt look. Sirius's heart stopped.

"Is that so wrong Black? Waiting for a nice, decent-looking guy with a little class? Is it really?" Lizz murmured. Knowing what it was like when they got into a fight, James and Annie had already backed up a ways away.

"N-no, I suppose not." Sirius said, moving closer. "Look-"

"Get away from me Black! Can't you stop being a sexist overbearing jerk for one second?" Lizz said, smacking away his hand. She turned away and ran back towards the dorm. Annie gave Sirius an emotionless look and ran after her. And if that wasn't enough to feed Sirius's guilt, James gave him a good punch on the jaw.

"Wake up Sleeping Beauty, I brought you some treats." Potter bellowed cheerfully. Remus opened his eyes a crack, then closed them again with a grin.

"Thank God for Butterbeer." Remus croaked hoarsely.

"No, just Madame Rosmerta." James said, still overbearingly cheerful. Remus cracked another smile. "Now sit up and I'll let you have some."

Remus groaned and pushed himself up slowly. He snatched the bottle from James and took a healthy swig. Reaching over, he moved to rest the bottle on the nightstand. However, he paused and looked down. His hand was wet. Looking around, Remus realized an entire side of his pillow was damp. Not drool, he realized as he wiped his mouth to check.

"And I have some of Honeyduke's best chocolate!" James said, procuring a few bars from his spoils bag. Remus didn't respond. "Remus," He said worriedly, "What's up?"

"Have…" Remus hesitated, running a hand through his hair in indecision. "Have you ever dreamed something and had it come true?"

"No." James replied. Remus smiled at his honesty.

"Neither have I. But I dreamt… I dreamt someone was crying for me and now this one side of my pillow is all wet."

"Freaky," James said, "So am I going to have to eat all this chocolate for you or what?"


	20. Trapped

**Wow, it's been what six months since I last updated? I apologize whole heartedly. I've honestly been half alive for the past few months. I've lost hair, lost joy, and lost naivette. Please forgive me for stumbling. Enjoy the new chapter. I hope to end this, at least the main part, within the next couple months.**

**Much love, laughs, and a touch of madness,**

**feyfaery**

**Chapter 20: Trapped**

"Why, you look now, how unworthy a thing you make of me. You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ; yet cannot you make me speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to played upon than a pipe?"

Jamie spoke dramatically as she strode into the Room of Requirement, partly because Shakespeare always sounds better spoken aloud and partly to get a grin out of Remus. She stopped with a flourish and took a bow, her blonde hair tumbling down as she bent over dramatically. When there was no covered chuckle in response to Hamlet's woe she looked up in surprise. How strange, no Remus in sight. He wasn't ever late. A quick frown crossed her face, should she worry? But the wondering frown was pushed aside by a greedy smile as she spotted a plate of little chocolate squares and a glass of milk sitting on a mahogany coffee table. Besides the goodies, the room was also strangely scattered with mirrors of various shapes and sizes that caused her reflection to fracture a million times against itself. It gave her the creeps. What was she? So self-conscious at the moment that her mind conjured up mirrors? Her blue eyes stared back at her from every direction. Jeez, she obviously needed some chocolate.

"Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me!" she finished.

"I guess I'll just have to wait until he gets here." Jamie said out loud, half hoping Remus would appear just by saying it. But life was never quite like an adventure story so no man strode timely through the door, no sigh came up from the corner where she hadn't looked closely enough. She sighed and shrugged hopelessly. Sinking into the worn brown leather couch the room had also provided, dropping her heavy satchel, and snapping up a chocolate, she let her mind wander. Remus had asked her to meet him here before prefect duty hadn't he? She thought. Or maybe it was simply a dream, fueled by her desire to ask about… that. Besides… that, Jamie shivered as her mind crossed over the word Dream. Dreams had never betrayed her before, so why now? When she wasn't tumbling through her usual nonsensical illusions, the night terror descended upon her with such force that Jamie actually had trouble believing it wasn't real. Not that she could remember the damn things anyway, just the sheer fear and terror and the ache in her legs and throat, asking for rest. It simply didn't make sense, and Jamie hated when things eluded her understanding.

"_Stop thinking about it! You're only getting yourself worked up!" _she thought angrily at herself. Being out of control was starting to take its toll on her, but she was just so tired of trying. She could barely handle waking up sweaty and afraid, but combined with the visions of Remus, bloody and helpless…

She couldn't think about Remus either, that had caused her enough confusion.

Hamlet certainly was a sad character, a victim of events and a dastardly admirable person. She wanted to ask Remus what he thought of the play, he having seen it in a playhouse over the summer. ACH! Not Remus again! Why must he continually invade her musings! Her mind was thankfully slowing down. she could feel a numbing sensation creeping its way up her spine. It was almost too good to be true.

Jamie stood up in alarm. Remus didn't flinch as she looked right at his mirror. Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed in a dead faint.

Somehow she caught the arm of the couch before she hit the floor. A something in her deadly refusing to lose conciousness, and to be honest Jamie was happy to let it. Nothing said a bad situation than being at someone's mercy. A screeching crash made her look up, her face a model of sheer anger. Little bits of glass flung around a familiar figure standing in shock a few feet before her. She managed to bend her head up long enough for a something in her to snarl viciously at him in her mind before she completely lost it. She didn't feel herself fall into something gentle and firm.

"Blech. This stuff never tastes good. Why can't Moony at least figure out a way to make it taste good?" Sirius grumbled as he emptied the glass vial Remus had left out for him in their tower hide-away. "Well" he said with a grin as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Maybe its better he didn't, I would have too much fun if it were so easy to take." Sirius dropped the vial back into the still evilly steaming cauldron, simply glad no one could see him as he adjusted the stolen bra over his muscled chest. He looked away as it began to fill. Pain speared up his spin, exploding in his head. Sirius ground his teeth as his bones crushed themselves within him like they were breaking over and over again. He tried instead to concentrate on the blonde hair that was growing over his eyes. But even that could keep him from crying out painfully at the feeling that every muscle in his body was being ripped apart very slowly.

The stolen robes were laying out for him, but Sirius, with an impish grin, instead crept over to a mirror that lay half-covered in a corner. "Man she has some real knockers!" He said, just barely resisting the urge to touch Jamie's body. That was wrong, that was sex with yourself, and that was sad the day Sirius Black couldn't at least get someone else to do it with him. He flipped his blonde hair and turned once more in the mirror. The red lips chuckled eerily to him from the reflection.

Down in the Gryffindor common room Sirius jogged as best he could in a differently proportioned body past the other students engaged in normal Saturday night activities such as gobstones, gossiping, or good old fashioned PDA. Speeding up, Sirius trotted faster though the noisy chamber, mainly to keep up the story of having left something behind as well as to avoid starting a conversation with Annie. James's laughter caught up with him from behind. Whether or not it was because of him or Annie, he didn't look back to find out. Not that he could with all this damnable blond hair getting in his way.

He came to a halt in front of the staircase. The staircase, the very one that kept him from so many girls beds, out of their underwear drawers, and locked out of their diaries. This staircase was his Nemesis, his ultimate enemy. Would he conquer it tonight?

Waving a foot over the first stair, Sirius tried to delay the moment, but the temptation was just too great, and before he knew it he was charging up the stairs. Right before he turned the dorm's door handle, however, he laughed triumphantly and pointed at the stairs beneath his/her feet, saying "Got you, you limey bastard!" The stairs quivered in annoyance, and as if to warn him not to press his luck too hard.

As soon as he stepped into the room he was so blinded by a rainbow of bright colors that he actually took a step back. _Geez, did they have to decorate it so much? Is that purple? Purple!?_ Once his eyes adjusted Sirius took a closer look. Annie's bed was a wash of reds, oranges, and blues, while Lizz's was purple and yellow, and both were surrounded by a wallpaper of smiling magazine cutouts and posters. Jamie's bed was blue and green, covered with the quilt he had seen her and Remus share, an extra blanket strewn across the end post, and accompanied by a few pictures tacked against the stone wall. What really caught Sirius's attention however was the many floor-to-ceiling painted morning glories that bedecked the wall parallel to her bed. In addition, real morning glories creeped up the sides of the four poster. They waved their violet skirts at him while they cuddled wantonly with the abundant green leaves that surrounded them. Upon inspection, Sirius also found a few daisies crawling up the sides of Lizz's bed.

His interest was cut short as spears of hot pain shot up his leg while something dug its claws into his robes. It hissed too. Yelping, Sirius peeled the black bundle off by the back of its neck and looked at it. Darcy, the kitten, obviously didn't like him.

"Jamie, stop holding Darcy like that! You're hurting him!" Lizz squealed as soon she saw what had caused the yelling. Pulling Darcy from Jamie's unresisting hands, Lizz scratched the spot between Darcy's ears affectionately as she carried him over to her bed. The cat alternately hissed at Sirius and purred at Elizabeth's ministrations. The bed creaked as Lizz sat down and folded her long brown legs beneath her. Sirius/ Jamie was having trouble breathing as well as thanking the god's that he was in a woman's body right now. It might have been a lot harder to not do anything about those long brown legs in a man's. He was quite sure he was blushing in the least; he could feel the heat creeping treacherously up the back of Jamie's neck. Lizz had looks that you noticed later, he decided. She was beautiful, just subtly. Her best feature was probably her hair. It was long and slightly curled, a silky brown with bright strands of gold.

"Geez, you're just as bad as James." Lizz remarked huffily. Darcy stretched in her lap, getting the full worth out of Lizz's attentions.

"James?" Jamie's lips managed to get out. The alien sound reminded Sirius that he was still in Jamie's body.

"Ya, James. You know, the guy I've been dating for the past several weeks? Ringin' any bells?" Lizz said in disbelief. She arched an eyebrow at him, Sirius wished she wouldn't. He really hadn't gotten any since summer, a fact he was not willing to share, and his break-up with Vivian a few weeks back had been over the issue of her being too grossly forward. I mean, he may Sirius the Sex God Black, but he did have a touch of class. She had never really turned him on, though god knows she'd tried. Sirius suppressed an involuntary shiver. He really hoped Remus was having fun with his drugged girlfriend.

"I know Lizz, er... duh" Sirius wasn't always good at covering himself. "I meant, uh... why do think I'm like James?"

"Cuz you pick on people." Jamie's eyebrow rose this time, but at Darcy. "Animals, whatever." Lizz continued with a flick of her hand. "I swear, if I see James pick on another person I'll scream. He and Sirius are ridiculous, chasing people down and teasing them all the time. I mean, here I thought he was this great guy, but I'm starting to think he's just as horrible as that idiotic Black who can't see past the end of his own nose." Lizz finished viciously, startling the kitten and man-girl in front of her. He'd never heard her this eloquent, especially on her absolute hatred of him. Ouch?

"I know you don't like m- Sirius Elizabeth, but why do you hate that they tease people so much? What about fighting back? Besides it's all in fun!" Sirius finished more passionately than he meant to.

"Oh, fight back? Maybe because they shouldn't have to in the first place!" Lizz said, standing up furiously. Her hazel eyes smoldered indignantly and strands of brown hair jerked free of its moorings. "In fun!?" She screeched. "What's fun about humiliation? Huh!? What's so great about causing people to hate themselves because the glorious Marauders do?! What about the little girl that got hung upside down for a full hour and ended up crying herself to sleep for several months!? That's FUN! Oh ha ha, yes let's all join in! We're all so much more powerful than they are, we might as well torment every poor soul that crosses our damn path!" Lizz breathed heavily, then slapped her hand over mouth in surprise.

"…" Sirius opened and closed his mouth in sheer astonishment. Was this really Lawrence? This wrathful divine protectress of the weak and small?

Oh, and another thing, she was dead right.

"Sorry Lizz," Jamie said. Lizz looked away and sat back down. "Really Lizz, it's not right what they do. Maybe they're horribly unaware of the effect their games have on other people. But," Jamie held up her hand as Lizz opened her mouth to object, "That does not excuse them at all does it?" Lizz nodded.

"I'm sorry too Jamie. It's just been bad to find out my boyfriend may just be a git." Lizz said. Jamie smiled and sat down next to her on the bed without thinking. "I guess we are making each other crazy aren't we?" Lizz said ruefully before wrapping Sirius in a light hug. He could smell vanilla.

Sirius forced out a smile. "Yeah…"

"What are you doing here anyway Jamie? I thought you were on duty with Remus?" Lizz said as she pulled up a strap of her bra that had fallen down without her notice. Sirius gulped and looked away, this was so wrong! Oh and he was sitting on a bed with her. Another ten minutes and.

"I wanted to uh… wanted to show Remus that book and I forgot it." Sirius lied, reaching forward a nailed hand towards the bookshelf and picking one up at random. Lizz's eyes took in that; one, Jamie had just picked "Inkspell" off the shelf, a book she abhorred, and two, her bright green nail polish had suddenly gone missing. But it was probably nothing right? I mean there are spells to take off nail polish.

"Okay," Lizz said with a shrug, "Hey, could you hand me Annie's copy of P&P?" Sirius walked over to the larger bookcase and floundered for a second before snatching a worn and almost tattered small book off the dresser and tossing it to Lizz. The book flew for a moment, its pages fluttering weakly, before it hit the floor and skidded, bending a few pages the wrong way. Sirius didn't move to get it, why should he? She missed the catch. Lizz's eyes narrowed more, but she bent down to get it. She took a moment to dust off the cover and bend the pages back properly as Jamie would want her to do.

"Hey, was it you that mentioned seeing a stag the other night?" Sirius said as nonchalantly as possible. He wanted to get out of this room, away from her. Was it hot or was it just him? Lizz froze up.

"Yes…" Lizz began slowly, trying to tread carefully. "I saw it disappear into the forest, from the window" She said. Okay, openly talking about animagus things was not Jamie's style, besides she'd really seen one from her favorite tree perch the other night, and she'd told Jamie as much.

"That's all?" Sirius said, poking around wearily. "Anything else?"

"Oh and I thought I saw a dog chasing a lion, but that's nuts right? I mean really, I must've been sleeping." Lizz shrugged, convinced now that this was not actually Jamie standing in front of her.

"Right, that's right" Sirius said in disappointment. Thinking straight was out of the question for him, so why doubt her answer? He wanted to say more, but the robes weren't as loose as they'd been when he first put them on. It was most likely coming to the end of the potion's duration. He turned to go, simply glad to get out of the enclosed space with a scantily clad Lawrence and plenty of beds.

"Hey let me check that bruise on your hip before you go." Lizz said, suddenly appearing at his side. She reached down and lifted up the hem of Jamie's robes before he could do anything about it. Now he was really, really glad he was in a woman's body.

Lizz lightly brushed her fingertips against his hip, probing just above the boxers he'd left on. She even pulled those down just a tad before releasing him. Sirius mumbled a "thanks" and bolted.

"Jamie… Jamie, please, please wake up, damn it! Jamie!"

A voice was calling out to her in the slurry of her mind. It was followed by a cool hand that stroked her forehead urgently. Each finger felt like a breath of cool air sliding against her face. Jamie held onto that feeling, following it out of her subconscious. She clung to it like a raft amid the shreds of Nightmare around her. "Jamie, wake up." The voice commanded though panic stained its usually steady voice. Stumbling through the dark, she blearily opened her eyes and from far away her voice spoke.

"What?" she said blearily. Her mouth fell so dry that it hurt to move it.

"Oh thank God." The other voice said in relief. The hand was removed from her head, and she resisted the urge not to whimper in disappointment. But she was pulled up into a warm embrace. Her brain finally caught up with the rest of her body and she took in the image her eyes were sending. The almost dark room, the mirrors around the room, and a pale, but handsome man leaning over her worriedly.

"Remus?" Her voice said unwillingly, knowing it was but hoping it wasn't him. He felt so good, gentle, but strong. Trustworthy.

"Yes, it's me. Are you alright?" He said worriedly, helping her sit up on the leather couch. Jamie looked away, ashamed of what she had been thinking. Even now, as he sat in front of her Jamie could feel a pull, like Remus was a wandering black hole. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" Remus said, leaning questioningly forward to look into her eyes.

Jamie kept her eyes trained on the floor, and mumbled a simple "Nothing" in response. He got up from his crouching position and sat next to her on the loveseat. Jamie's body tried to ignore that everything on her right side was touching him. Both warmth and the chilling touch of fear churned in her stomach. How close was it to the full moon? A week? Was that far enough? With disgust in herself, Jamie fought both feelings off.

Finally, he reached over and touched her hand lightly, almost as if she would break at his touch. Her eyes flicked up into his dark gray ones. Not a good idea she thought as she felt herself getting light-headed and looked away, they made her dizzy.

"Jamie…" His voice trailed off in worry.

"I'm fine!" Jamie snapped, jerking her hand away. "I'm not as weak as you may think Lupin." She spat, "I can take care of myself, and I'm not so easily breakable."

"I'm sorry." Remus said coldly, standing up indignantly. For a moment he kept his back to her, his hands clasped tightly behind his back as if suffering to control himself. He turned to look at her. "Listen, you were dreaming, you were having a nightmare, something!" He ran a hand through his brown hair. Jamie noticed that it was slowly beginning to curl at the ends where it has grown over the past two months. "You mumbled then you screamed and…" Damn, he couldn't even go on. He had been so scared. She had cried out in so much pain he thought she was being ripped apart by a hideous curse. Jamie merely frowned, though not meant towards him directly, she couldn't hide her anger at being caught. Screaming like a girl of all things! Resentment swelled up within her. She'd prove she wasn't weak, she could handle it. Remus frowned angrily as well and stalked to the other side of the room. Jamie could see his flexing arms crossed in an effort to control his frustration and anger. Anger and sheer stubbornness flowed beneath her own veins, like she should care if he was freaked out, he wasn't the one suffering from a never ending terror ride, not that that mattered anyway. He cast a look back at her that disarmed her train of thought.

She stood up, wanting to do something but she dared not go to him. His eyes were emotionless and maybe a little afraid? They stood thus, a whirlpool of emotions churning invisibly between them. Each was too afraid to get closer for fear of being dragged under.

He looked down. Jamie felt both parts of her curl away and reach out at the same time. Torn or no, she felt her legs move. She didn't think but merely hoped he'd catch her on the other side. Emotions crossed his face; wonder, joy, and finally, a plea. She reached him and stopped.

"You shouldn't say sorry, I should." He didn't move, didn't show any sign that he had even heard her, but didn't remove himself from her gaze. The corners of Jamie's eyes tugged with the beginnings of tears. She tried to wipe them hurriedly away but more came. "I'm pathetic." Her voice cracked unexpectedly, going unnaturally high. She waited a few moments in fear it would do it again. Remus waited silently. She continued, wanting desperately to say this. "I can't even deal with a few nightmares. When I see you worry about me it makes me upset. I feel weak, and… and I am! I can't deal with my problems, and they keep spilling out onto everyone else! I'm… just pathetic!" He looked at her with guarded eyes. She visually released him and pressed her eyes into her hands. "I mean, look at me, I'm crying, once again in front of you, and all you did was ask me if I was okay! What the hell's wrong with me? Am I just some nut who-"

"Don't be a fool." He said, bending over to wrap her up in his arms. She started in surprise but he wordlessly tightened his grip. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with you whatsoever. How could you think such a ridiculous thing?" He chuckled in her ear. Her breath came in shudders as she pressed her face into the soft wool of his robes. "It is always alright to cry. You were never weak, you're strong and brave and determined! You're joyful and glorious and lovely. Cry, I don't mind being the shoulder to cry on. Just don't simply push me away again. Am I so untrustworthy?" Jamie trembled violently. A frown piqued across his face. Was he so spiteful in her eyes that she wanted to actually keep him at an arms length? Wasn't he always ready to catch for those rare moments she was falling? He closed his eyes painfully, eyebrows slanted downwards like two tensed arrows, unwilling to be released. Did she know?

However, as Remus was just about to pull away, he heard a cry of pain. Rubbing a hand over her hair, he took a look into her eyes. Tears spilled like sparkly rain from the blue sky of her eyes. Remus smiled warmly and held her closer. "I'm here, it's alright."

Silly girl Jamie was, she didn't realize she had emotions that she'd been keeping a lid on, and here they came sweeping out, taking this warm and secure moment to run rampant and eventually tire themselves out. Jamie was vaguely aware that she was sobbing, and had been for at least a few minutes. She was even more aware of the relief that broke down all the jagged edges that had sawed against her since she'd left home. Aware that Remus was still holding her as tight as ever, she didn't want to leave.

What _was_ wrong with her? He was practically the cause of half her stress, she couldn't even be around him without wondering and wondering, her own imagination betraying her as it ran off. Yet the very second he hugged her, she didn't want to and couldn't leave because then all "that" would come back and stretch her across the rack again. She let herself pull him close for a second, imprinting the warm security into her memory. He smelled musky and as musty as a book.

"I'm just pathetic. Aren't I?" she said, sniffing nastily and breaking the hug. Jamie smiled sadly and looked up at him, bracing herself for pity.

"No," He replied, his eyes looking down into hers, and a crooked happy smile on his lips, "You aren't." Remus reached down and wiped a tear off her cheek.

------------

"I swear to all the good and evil forces in this world, if you don't shut your over-sized trap Black I'm going to rip it right off your face and feed it to the crows!!!" Jamie finally yelled, frustrated with Sirius once and for all. Who could blame her anyway? It had been a long afternoon, teaching people how to dance. It had started as just a "Hey I know how to waltz, let me show you" type of thing and had grown to forty people showing up instead of the original four. Who knew that they didn't have cotillion in Britain? Now she was standing on a table in the Dining Hall with an old music record, voice getting sore from yelling out instructions. It was Wednesday and the masquerade was on Saturday, the same day Ryan rode the train into Hogsmeade.

"That's a new one." James whispered.

"Don't think I can't hear you Potter," Jamie snapped without turning around to look at him. "Now, that we've covered the waltz, foxtrot, and basics in the tango, does anybody know how to salsa?" A few confident female hands were raised, but only one male hand. The glare from the large glass windows prevented her from seeing who it was, but she waved them up anyways. "Find a partner, someone you trust!" She barked out, causing a bit of confusion. Somehow, Lizz ended up with Sirius, despite the ten girl dive for him, and Annie paired up with James.

"Salsa is a trusting dance isn't it?" said the man now on the table behind her.

"On the woman's side it is at least Remus." Great, she'd picked Remus. She could feel him behind her, heating up her backside. His very presence was maddening. Politely avoiding him had been easy the last few days, but as the both Ryan and the full moon came nearer, as well as the dance on the following day, it was getting harder and the melancholy caused by his absence was just not good. Jamie began her tutorial, first showing the steps without the partner and a few moves, and then told them to pair up. She showed them how to grip each other's hands, using Remus as a, surprisingly, good example. Finally she turned on the music, showed them the beat, and told them to practice the basics.

Remus's practiced hands grabbed her own and began to move her. He had perfect control over her movements. The bit people don't really understand about "leading" is that the man more or less suggests the move and the woman follows if she wishes. Though if the man is really good, the woman will simply comply without thinking about it, even if she doesn't know the move, because it just seems so natural. Remus was really, really good.

"Wow, is there anything you can't do?" Jamie said in wonder. She knew Remus was knowledgeable, but she was hoping she could at least beat him in this subject.

"Cook" he said with a quirk of his lips.

Another song started, a faster one. They picked up the beat instantly and began to move. In salsa, the feet don't move as much, but the shifting weight causes the hips to move in tune. Jamie enjoyed the feel of her skirt twitching in time as her body began to feel the music flowing through her. Remus smiled, almost devilishly. Jamie felt her heart quake. Just a bit. But his hands had hers and she was… almost at his mercy.

First he did the basic step and a twirl here and there. Then he tested her out more and more, trying different moves that she complied with. Jamie resisted the urge not to close her eyes and let her body move on its own.

Pretty soon they were following each other across the table top, releasing and meeting again and again, perfectly in tune. Jamie's blue skirt and strapped boots created a rhythm and a blur. Remus made a flourishing final move and Jamie completed it with the corresponding backward twirl.

"Holy crap, I could do that forever!" Jamie exclaimed, breathless. Her chest was heaving up and down, accentuated by the low shirt she was wearing. Remus took notice. Jamie blushed and broke away from his arms.

"Me too." Remus said, but instead of smiling, abruptly dropped her hands and leapt off the table. Left all alone, Jamie turned a glare on the surprised staring eyes and resumed her job of teaching students how to dance. Finally, when everyone knew the basics of every dance she could remember from her dance class days, Jamie turned towards the crowd and asked if anyone knew how to play the piano. She wanted to dance to real music instead of a record, just once.

Remus, his eyes strangely cloudy and even more strangely angry, got up and moved towards the piano. Starting in alarm, Jamie told everyone to dance whatever they wanted and hurriedly leapt of the table in the direction of the door. Her boots clacked as she zipped past a surprised Annie and James, but the sound of a piano bench squeal caught up with her. She began running for it.

The piano music washed over her and bound her limbs still. He was playing something strong and angry, yet graceful in its power. Spellbound, Jamie couldn't move. She struggled for the ability to leave, but the treacherous part in her soul was winning. Remus was pouring himself, his genius, into the music; she could practically see it written out on the air. In the back of Jamie's mind, she was cussing as loudly as it could, trying to be heard over the beguiling music, but without luck.

No one except perhaps Lizz knew what music did to Jamie. Every boy she'd ever had a crush, had been her crush because he played. David, Michael, Sean… all of them. When Ryan had asked her on a second date, she'd honestly said no. When she saw him play the piano, she'd changed her mind, and he wasn't even nearly as good as this.

Knees shaking, Jamie actually physically fought for control of her legs. She didn't want to hear him play, she didn't want to be enchanted, and she didn't want to fall in love with Remus. And with that last resolution, she ran away for perhaps the first time in her life.


End file.
